Starting Over...Again

Well...It's almost April and I'm still dealing with a petulant shoulder!  I have been able to run some (I got up to 6 miles of straight running), and swim some (about 2400, but half of those yards were wearing fins).  I haven't taken any time off the bike, but I haven't really been doing super-long bike rides either.  I decided to try a different route and have gone to see Jay Austin (a "not so traditional" physical therapist).  After a few sessions he suggested I might want to take a couple of weeks completely off of working out to focus on getting better.  As much as I didn't want to hear that...I want this injury to go away.  Last week was a great workout week...but this week has been much less than even "adequate".  This pattern will not get me to Tahoe, much less through it!

So...I'm taking two weeks completely off any kind of workout except what I'm supposed to do for PT.  I'm about 55 hours in so far and I haven't pulled even one hair out!  In fact, I actually have a very good attitude about it.

I remember the first year I did the Cotton Row 10K, I had been told early on in the 12 weeks of training prior to the race that I should take a couple of weeks off.  I didn't.  Instead I limped through the weekly runs and then limped through the 6.2 miles on race day.  After I took the time off, I came back stronger than before.  (It's kind of funny to me now to go back and read that race re-cap.  The "I-don't-know-if-I-can-run-a-10K" me had no idea I'd be training for an Iron Man just three short years later!)  So I'm going to take the advice I give to others so freely: "don't be afraid to rest".

I'm not going to lie...the thought has crossed my mind, more than once, that maybe I just can't do "it" (what "it" is varies..."it" is whatever seems hard to me at the time).  But I've gotten much better at self-coaching out of that dark place.  I can do "it" but "it" might not look like someone else thinks it should or the way I thought it would.  Two weeks is not a lifetime....and it's already down to 12 days!!

I'm not giving up...I'm just starting over.  ((But I won't be starting from square one!!)

--F. Scott Fitzgerald