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Life After Ironman: It Goes On

There can be a let down after accomplishing a huge goal, where depression sets in and an athlete feels lost without their training plan and something to look forward to. I have had so many things going on since the big day I have not felt the let-down. I have gone back to work/wifehood/motherhood full steam and there is not enough time to feel the let down as I clean up the loose ends left from 10 months of training. There are a lot of loose ends, and projects yet to be undertaken. I'm organizing my busy season with personal training and the gym, helping at Jason's school, cleaning up everything, helping with races, taking the boys to Cub Scout camp, and trying to spend quality time with Jeff. I have no let down, but I am no longer making my health and fitness a priority. All of the things I am doing with my time now are fun and overdue, so it's hard to squeeze in the workout I should be doing. Remember, I'm an Average Ironmom, not a regular competitor, so I have not yet signed up for the next big day. Now, my exercise plan is seriously suffering. This happens if I don't have a fitness goal. I have done one 90 min ride while I wrote my last blog post since Ironman.

I am getting a lot done. But I feel my hard earned fitness slowly unraveling, and my body is nagging at me to make a change. Without a really good reason to get in my daily workouts, eat as well as I can, sleep 8 hours a night, drink water, skip alcohol and run on a tight schedule I have gone from being in the best shape of my life, to pushing my limits in a not so healthy way to get more done. I'm sleeping in as long as I can, feeling exhausted in the mornings because I'm pushing bedtime each night. I'm having a drink or two in the evening with my husband which is fun and relaxing, but I pay in the morning. I still have to get up at 4:30 in order to make it to the gym to clean, before starting my first training at 6am. I'm eating whatever is available, or nothing at all during the day because I'm working through lunch. While training for Ironman I could not do my afternoon workouts or recover properly without the right nutrition program, so I had to be sure to eat right all day, or at least eat something. Thank goodness for Adam with Sun of a Bistro who brought a salad and lunch down everyday like clockwork. And I am not getting the multitude of benefits that come with regular exercise. What I am missing most is the stress relief that comes with exercise. Without a plan and a goal I usually end up working through the day with no structured exerise. As a trainer I know this is not good. I need a plan to make it happen. So what do you do after you've finished Ironman?

Instead of going long, I'm going to work on getting faster. For someone with limited time, I think this will be perfect. I used to be really fast. On the soccer field I was always the first to the ball. I lettered in track my freshman year in the 400 meter dash with minimal effort. I am not very competitive so I don't really care if I finish first or last. I always say participation counts most, but I am going to need something more if I am going to stay on track. I have never ran faster than an 8:30 minute mile in any race, so my new goal is going to be to run a 5k in 25 minutes by July. I have never tried to run as fast as I could for any distance, so this should be fun. I might have to re-adjust the goal if I am already able to get close to this, but that's part of the journey. I am planning on doing fun 5ks, with the keiki dashes before so it can be a family event. I will do 4 run days per week: hill day, sprint day, tempo day, and a long day just for fun. I will do working rides in the gym while on the computer for cross training and add yoga to the program, along with strength training (which I skipped due to time and energy constraints while training for Ironman).

The next 6 months are my busiest time of year for personal training, so the short distance and fast workouts will be welcome. Plus, I can no longer spend hours away from my family for the sake of exercise. It won't work...so we'll give this new plan a shot. I'm putting it out there so I hold myself accountable, otherwise it might not happen. By the way, if you've put your fitness on hold too, join me in starting. Here goes the next phase!

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