Testing my theory

Week 3 of this grand experiment which is training for Ironman Texas started yesterday. Yes, I'm doing the same thing that about 2800 other athletes are doing, training to complete the race. But over the next 5 months, I've got a couple other goals that add at best some complexity to getting to the finish line.

One, I'm trying to lose 40 more pounds and finally get to my goal weight. The other goal I have...well, really it's not a goal. It's more like a strategy...is to get through the whole 6 months without getting burned out. This year, most of the people I watched train for Ironman, almost without exception, came to a point in the training where they were burned out. There was story after story about athletes just having to take a break. Some took a week, two weeks, even a month off training just to regroup and revitalize. I have a theory on this. It's not based on any experience or on anything I've even read. My theory is that it's not the training that burns an athlete out. It's all the other stuff we try to cram in. It's as much LIFE in general that burns you out during IM training as it is the training itself. My theory states that if you can keep balance EARLY in the training and go into the last half FRESH and in a good place, you can get through the 2nd half without getting burned out.

I believe the training is much like the race. First of all, you've got to start the training rested. You've got to be fresh. Then, my theory is that the first 2/3 of the training is much like the swim and the bike. You may feel good and want to go out hard but if you go too hard on the bike, You're gonna crash on the run. Likewise, if your life is out of balance EARLY in the training, you're gonna burn out and gonna get to a point later where you want to quit or want to take a month off. I believe just like staying in Zone 2 on the bike, you want to keep your life as simple as possible during the early months of training. Can you go harder? Yes. Do you have some time now to do some things? Volunteer for this event? Go to that place? Meet with these people? Attend that party? Run this race (just for fun of course)? Work those extra hours? Yes, early in the training it may seem like you can fit it in. But my theory is that THIS is what causes the burnout that comes later when the training gets HARD and the hours longer and the intensity greater.

So early on in this training, I want to be bored. I want to be finished with work, finished with my home stuff, finished with my workouts and sitting around wondering why I'm just sitting around. I mean work, family, and training. That's ALL I'm putting on my plate. If someone wants to do something, the answer will likely be NO. If I have an opportunity to volunteer, the answer is probably "next year". Of course, if you know me, you know this goes against what I'm all about. I love to go, go, go and do, do, do. But to accomplish this goal, I have to be a little selfish. It feels weird but I've gotta do it.

To this end, part of testing my theory is to take every 3rd Tuesday off work between now and May 21. These Tuesdays all fall during my recovery week. That's 8 extra days off. Doesn't sound like much but I think it's going to be good for me. I picked Tuesday because my massage therapist doesn't work on Monday. I'm using that one day every 3 weeks to sleep in, get stuff done around the house, get a massage, and basically just chill.

My goal, my strategy is to NOT burn out. Everyone's telling me it's gonna happen. It's inevitable. Well, if it does, it does. I'm not going to be stubborn about it. But if I'm right, and taking care of me EARLY in this training keeps me fresh and keeps my life balanced, I'm going to be able to see this training all the way through to the end and not skip a beat.

It's just a theory.