Cut the crap

I came to the shocking realization a week ago that Boise is less than 100 days away. I don't even want to think about how close Free State is. After the 50k, I took some time off, worked on the house, got sick, got stranded in the middle of rural Missoura (see http://roecircle.blogspot.com/2009/03/adventures-of-bad-luck-chuck-and-his.html for the story), and I've been working 10 hour days. Which means I have been training very little.

So I feel like I'm back to a crawl. I went out on Thursday for an easy run at WyCo by myself and between the chest cold and time off, I felt like a giant chunk of crap sweating out lard. Last night I rode my bike for an hour and I'm amazed at how sore my shoulders are today from being in the aero position. I'm planning on swimming tomorrow night and I'm sure 3000m will kick my butt. Maybe it will be more realistic to do 2000 and then re-evaluate. Tonight I'm planning on an easy hour-long run around the neighborhood, maybe more if the weather is OK and I'm feeling good. With Free State a little over a month away, I need to put in time on my feet.

I'm trying to be more realistic about what I can fit into a day and so I will be scaling back on my schedule and expectations. I have finally faced the fact that I will not be swimming in the mornings - it is too hard to take everything and get ready at the gym and too long to come back home. And I like to sleep before 6 am. When it is warmer out, I'll try to do my running speed work in the morning since that is a shorter workout. Let's face it, the days of me getting up at 5am to work out are long gone.

I'm also going to cut back on the races I want to do this summer. I need more weekends with fewer plans. I also think if I focus on doing a few events well instead of a lot of events under-prepared, I will be happier and perform better. For now, I have Free State and Boise to focus on. I'd like to get in one more triathlon and do some trail running, but I'm not committing to anything.

The longer days help, and for the next two weeks, my main goal is consistency. Not even quality. My HR monitor totals for workouts last week: 1 Total, Time: 59:56, Calories: 655. I know I can do better than that. It's time to cut the crap or quit calling myself an athlete. Cut the crap, Sam, and get your ass outside.