Life Without Ironman

It’s been three weeks since I decided to pull out of Ironman and, I must admit, I neither miss the training nor do I regret making the decision to skip the race. The last 21 days have actually been the most relaxed and happiest I’ve felt in months – this is very telling about just how miserable I was during my training process.

I was initially concerned that I wouldn’t be able to go on Facebook and risk seeing everyone talk about their training, uploading workouts, post things about how they’re feeling, what their nutrition struggles are, and the like; worrying that I would get down and regretful about my decision. But after a few days I found that I was actually relieved that it wasn’t ME out there doing a 7 hour bike or getting up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday to run 18 miles. I’m still not quite sure what it was/is about the training or the race in general that was just too much for me this year. Maybe it’s not anything about either of those things in particular, but more so that my heart just wasn’t in it for whatever reason, and that’s okay too.

But…. enough about that. As I said in my previous post regarding pulling out of the race, I definitely want to keep up with the running/swimming/biking in order not to lose what I’ve gained. So far I’ve been able to do this pretty consistently. I’ve been trying to get out for a few rides a week, making sure that they’re at least 20+ miles or so as not to slack on my endurance. I still plan on doing the OKHT and Bike to Beat Cancer coming up the next two weekends, but instead of doing the full century rides as I had previous planned, I’m completing the 50-milers – enough to make me feel like I’m doing something, but not enough that I’m hating life.

The swimming has been harder to keep up just because it’s so tedious and boring. I find it REALLY difficult to get out of bed during the week to go for a swim before work – it’s not my favorite leg of the triathlon. However, since I’m not overly concerned with improving my swim or getting significantly faster, I figure I can pick this back up when I’m training for an actual tri next year.

The running has re-established itself as the sport I spend most of my time on, for two reasons. One is that I started back with Orange Theory Fitness, which is probably my most favorite workout regime of all time. I had to stop my membership in April when Ironman training intensified since I wouldn’t have time to do the OTF workouts PLUS my tri training. Second, my oldest niece has decided to try her hand (or feet and legs) at running and is training for her first race, the Great Pumpkin 10k in October. I’m so proud of her and since I love running I volunteered to help her train for the event. We’re trying to get together 2-3 times a week to do our runs together, which gives me more miles than I would get doing OTF alone. It’s a win-win.

One thing that I did have to change when I quit training was stuffing my face as much! It’s easy to eat a lot of food when you’re burning so many calories, but I noticed during my first week without all the tri training that I was still eating as if I just completed a 60 mile bike ride – not good. So, I’ve had to start watching my calorie consumption - taking into consideration that an hour of OTF still burns less calories (about 550) than a 90 minute bike ride (about 800). One thing that I was not expecting, however, was a change in my bathroom habits….

DISCLOSURE: THIS NEXT SECTION IS ABOUT POOPING.

So yeah, obviously the more you workout the more your body is going to “move things along,” hence you’re going to poop more often and more regularly. Sometimes up to three times a day in my case. This was an awesome side effect of my tri training as I love a good poop, not gonna lie or even try to sugar coat it. But…now that I’m not working out AS intensively, the bowel train seems to take its own sweet time pulling out of the station. No longer am I a “go every morning,” girl, but more of a “go whenever the mood strikes,” woman. Not a fan of this change, I must say. 

Regardless of this lack-of-poo fiasco however, I feel great – both mentally and physically. I feel like I’m at a really good place in my life right now as my practice is going extremely well, I’m looking forward to a vacation with my family in a month, and I’m branching out socially to make sure I get a good balance. I’ve decided to put dating on the back burner for the foreseeable future, which is the first time in a LONG TIME that I’ve actually been okay with not looking for a mate and just enjoying my singlehood. As they say, “I just wanna do me for a while.”

As for my triathlon future, I definitely still want to compete and am interested in returning to Muncie next year to see what I can really do when I don’t have the weight of a full Ironman resting on my shoulders. Until then, it’ll be more running, biking, OTF, spending time with my friends and family, cuddling with the pup, and enjoying some reading and Netflix as we make our way into Fall.