Two steps forward, one step back.

First off, I MUST share this video. This man is amazing and inspiring. If you're feeling sorry for yourself, watch this and realize you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to.

Mid-Week Update and Mind Shift

So my weight loss plan is going well. I'm down to 118.5 lbs this morning and that's only 3-1/2bs away from my goal. That being said, I actually want to be at about 20% body fat and I don't care what my weight is at that point so once I get my new scale and can track body fat, I'll report that way instead.

This was going to start out as another whine but I changed my mind after watching that video. I just need to make yet another mind adjustment to my training plan.

OK, I am, crying "uncle". I will admit I am too much of a noob and I am old. I cannot do 3 hard weeks and 1 recovery week. My body will not allow it. It seems like I naturally do 2 weeks hard just fine but fall apart in the 3rd week. SO, I am going to go with one week hard, one week easier for awhile and see if I can avoid the 'fall apart' (overtraining) syndrome.

I trained 9 hours last week and felt awesome. If you read my last post, you noticed I was crowing about my awesome long run and awesome long swim on Saturday. Sunday morning, the weather was abysmal (pouring rain) so we couldn't do the Sunday ride. It cleared up by noon so we went out to ride the hills. I felt strong and rode hard, keeping up with Erik on most of the climbs which I can rarely do. He was a bit tired from a hard hill repeat ride he did on Saturday but, my legs were also tired from my run as well so I think I was doing well. Then we rode out to Gallagher's and I just hammered up the long 3km climb and did it in what I suspect was record time. All this time, I was feeling good.

From there, we rode into Belgo and I had what felt like a bit of indigestion (we rode right after lunch and I had eaten a fatty roast beef sandwich). By the time we got down to the flats on our way home, I was getting a stitch-like feeling in my right side. I rode like that for 4-5 km until it was hurting too much and I had to stop. I sat down on the grass and eventually laid on the grass until it subsided. I was convinced it was just a weird gas pain and would go away. Within a few minutes, I felt ok so we hopped on the bikes and continued out ride towards home. I got about 4 more km's before I had to stop again in agony and wait until it went away. I could not take a deep breath in and it hurt like heck. It went away when I stopped for a few minutes but hurt again as soon as I started riding.

The 3rd stop I was gasping for breath and the pain was intense and although I was only 6km from home, I asked Erik to go get the car and pick me up. There's a big steep climb all the way home and there's no way I'd make it. I limped into the nearest hotel lobby and waited for my ride. Again, it felt better when I stopped riding so I still assumed it was a stupid gas pain/indigestion-related pain from hard riding after a heavy roast beef sandwich. I could still feel it when I took a deep breath the next day and it continues to be tender even now, although much less so. I don't know what it was and I might go see the doctor eventually, especially if it doesn't go away.

Now, possibly related to this has been a tremendous feeling of fatigue on Monday and Tuesday, despite getting enough sleep at night. I had a rest day planned for Monday and I skipped my run and swim on Tuesday because I was so tired, and emotional as well. I booked off work today and slept all morning. I just got up to eat and then I think I'll go back for another nap this afternoon. I think this is the 'overtraining' syndrome I mentioned earlier. I have no idea if there's any connection to my side pain or not.

So what does this all mean? Take it easy. I could do that triathlon right now and possibly place in my age group so why do I need to kill myself training? I'm going to cut back a bit and do one easy week and one hard week and see if I can find the right balance. I feel so good when I'm in the midst of a hard week though, it's hard to believe I'm doing myself harm.

And on it goes.