Are you tired? GOOD

Waking up yesterday, Tuesday, my muscles were more weary then sore. I must have hit snooze 5 times before actually coaxing myself out of being horizontal. My scheduled work out for the day was at the Track with the team followed by a short 1/2 hour recovery swim.

During my warm up laps at the track, I felt a little hot. How is it that a girl who grew up in the heat and humidity of Virginia could feel hot in 77 degrees? The coaches separated the Ironman and Marathon athletes from the rest of the group. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that this would mean we were getting a lighter work out because of our challenging weekend. NOT AT ALL. The assigned work out was 6 miles non stop around the track at a 1/2 marathon pace, alternating speed by 5 seconds or so every other loop. I started out with my 1st loop at 5K pace, 1:57. Too fast to maintain for 6 miles, it should have been more like 2:10 or 2:15. I spent the next 3 loops trying to slow myself down and hit a steady pace. Mark, one of our coaches, asked me if I was tired when I ran past him. YES! His response - GOOD! Good? Grown! This helped me focus even more. I am going to be tired during Ironman and will need to keep going and going and going.

Then, my stomach starting hurting. Could it have been the salsa that I had at lunch? Why did I do that? What was I thinking? The next 4 miles on a queasy stomach did not feel so great. I did not want to stop. What if my stomach hurts on August 29? I finished 5 of the 6 miles assigned. Not the best work out, but I pushed through some challenging miles. I did not make the swim, knowing that I needed to let my stomach calm down a bit. Today will be a better effort.