I still haven't full recovered from the disappointment of having my A Race denied to me (the event was cancelled). My training has floundered considerably. Add to this the fact that I can't seem to manage to get back into running without various injuries plaguing me.
Yes, plagued by injuries. Go figure. At first it was the typical IT Band pain, an angry Achilles', my hip flexor copping an attitude. Then 2 weeks ago, on a 5 mile run I rolled my ankle when I was barely halfway through the run. That benched me for a few days. Then I got busy helping with the heavy labor out at my Grandparents' property. While there I damn near borked myself with a nasty fall. I was standing with one foot on the rail of a truck bed, and one foot on the side of an 8' tall dumpster, with my head at least 10' off the ground. I lost my balance as we chucked a heavy chair up over the side and into the dumpster. I almost managed to regain my balance, but instead went straight over backwards. There was nothing to grab, nothing to break my fall, except for the hard packed gravel road, of course. I managed to take the brunt of it on my ass, and fell flat and straight. It hurt like a m'fucker. I lay for several minutes, doing the internal assessment of injury. Miraculously I did not break my tailbone, twist my back, or hit my head. All I could say was, "I think I broke my ass!" Really, the only injury is a bruised sacrum. I got out of it cheap, since it was the hardest fall I have ever taken. But it is nigh on impossible to run with a bruised sacrum, cycling is bad enough.
I am determined to get back on track though. It isn't like I am slacking. I have been doing hard physical labor, climbing up and down hills, hauling and stacking bricks (lots and lots of bricks), and generally getting a great full body workout day after day, but it isn't focused training. I have kept up with my cycling, at least with the indoor training sessions. My swimming has been a bit less than I would like, but I am doing dryland work 2 or 3 times a week. I have kept my weight training consistent, and feel strong. My weight has stayed at a steady 155 to 158.
So, what am I bitching and moaning about? I don't have my focus. The last two years I had laser sharp focus for both training and nutrition. This year, not so much. That is going to change. Today was my first day not out at the Grandparents' property in over a week. I got in a strong though a bit slow of a swim today, 50 laps, despite running on about 3 hours sleep. Last night, for some reason I felt like I was damn near burning up. I tossed and turned, my muscles felt like they had electricity running through them, and I was sweating as heavily as if I were running hill repeats. I finished my evening with a 65 minute cycling workout, doing a hard gearing pyramid.
Nutrition has stayed pretty solid, though I am eating a bit more sweet stuff than I would like. I keep extra dark chocolate on hand to satisfy my sweet tooth.
But my loss of focus has me stressed. It could be that since I have no schedule in my real life right now I am not scheduling my training like I have in the past. It's like they say, "Need to get something done? Ask a busy person." I feel like I'm busy as hell, but without a framework to plan around. It has to change. I need to regain my focus.
