If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll know the past few years have been a bit hard for me. An ankle break in 2019 (at a time when I didn’t have health insurance) sidelined me from running for over a year. I was cleared to run just as a global pandemic was breaking out, and for a while I had some motivation to get outside and run on the trails. But I struggled with finding my passion for the sport during 2020, and didn’t run nearly as much as I had hoped to.
In Spring 2021 I turned 30, and thought it would be a fun idea to run from Pennsylvania to West Virginia on the Appalachian Trail for my birthday. And it was a great idea, but I ended up burning myself out, and fell back into a running slump. Since then, I’ve just dabbled in running and walking and general exercise. Over the past several months, I’ve started adding in fitness classes (I’m now a [solidcore] convert], started biking again, and become OK with whatever phase of my fitness journey I’m currently in.
If you asked me a few years ago what my fitness goals were, one of the top goals would have been to complete an Ironman triathlon. Depending on when you asked me that question, I would have told you that goal was to be completed by the time I turned 30.
Well, I’m about to be 32, and that goal has yet to be achieved. And you know, that’s totally OK with me.
However, I haven’t actually tried to achieve the goal either, and I’ve got a funny feeling about that. I’d like to at least try. So, 2023 is officially the year I’m going to try out more serious triathaloning. In fact, I’ve signed up for one of the first races of the season in my area, which is scheduled for mid-May.
To prepare for the race, I’ve bought myself a new bike - a Cannondale Synapse. The olympic distance race I did a few years ago, I rode on a hybrid bike I had borrowed from my older brother which was also serving as my daily commuter at the time. When I went to get the bike serviced at the start of the race, the mechanic helping me literally asked ‘this is the bike you’re racing on!?’. Needless to say, I figured 8 years later, I should probably up my bike game.
I’ve also started swim training again. I feel really lucky that our gym has a saltwater pool with lane reservations. I have a mild chlorine allergy and traditional pools stress me out because if I don’t immediately rinse off, or spend too much time in the pool, I’ll be debilitated with a migrane for the rest of the day. Also, finding open swim lanes in DC is a tough proposition, and I’m an anxious human so lane reservations are a bonus perk. Swimming is a sport I’m quite confident in, having swam competitively from age 3 during summer swim league, through state championships my senior year of high school. I just need to spend some time in the pool to get that endurance skill back, and prepare myself for open water swimming.
I’ve also been going to [solidcore] workouts once per week for the past few months, and am feeling a noticeable difference in my core and hip/glute strength. If you know much about my past history of injuries, my relative hip/glute weakness has been a real challenge of mine. I’m really grateful to have found this workout series, as I struggle with motivation for strength workouts otherwise. This is my attempt to do a bit of injury prevention work, and focus on whole body health, not just endurance skills.
I’ll update this blog over time as training goes along. Currently nursing a sprained ankle from a non-fitness related misstep (literally stepped out of a shop the wrong way and am paying the price!). Hoping the sprain isn’t a major setback, but the next few weeks I’ll approach with focused caution and ease.