Our Lunatic of the Lake

With a few days' stretch of vacation ahead of her, our slow, fat, triathlete packed up the tent and headed to Devil's Lake, only to land there in the midst of, well, a storm front. Timing was good for setting up the tent, but an exciting evening of meterological mayhem ensued. My training plan was complicated by the discovery that I'd left my front bike wheel in the living room. Subconscious need to avoid that hill on HW DL? Higher power enforcing a recovery week? Just the usual absent-minded professor syndrome? Whatever: I tried to adapt the Plan as best possible. Took a run in high humidity Wednesday afternoon (Tuesday had been a swim workout, a run effort that was too challenging, and a bike ride with Monica~ a pleasure, as always...), and just as I got a camp fire going, the rain and the sirens and the park rangers announcing the rain and the lightening they thought we might not be noticing broke loose. The guys on the radio said to stay away from windows, but it wasn't clear whether that meant it was better to be in windowless tents than in cars...What's any of this have to do with triathlon training? Not much, except that it made it clear to me that I don't want to spend the night before the Devil's Lake Challenge in a tent at Devil's Lake. The next morning, when I went for a "swim," the water was cold and choppy; I was the only lunatic in the lake, which kind of made me proud, and kind of made me wonder how far down the rabbit hole I've gone. Most importantly, it also made me wonder whether I'll need a wetsuit a month from now. My most impressive timed segment during this two-day adventure was a twelve-minute striking of camp when thunder started to roll again the following day...time to get back to the predictable environment of the gym.

The truth is also that after the swim practice, during which I again came up short, and a hard slow run/walk around the DL run course, I wondered again whether I really can be ready for this. It's some days easier to see how far there is to go than to see how far I've come. I also have the feeling some days that the moments in which I am most tempted to give up are the moments in which I am closest to having some kind of breakthrough. For example, my swimming is so inadequate and so far below the benchmarks so chronically...and yet, it was better in the lake yesterday than it had been 10 days before. Even so, I was pretty discouraged. So, today at the pool, I was at it again...starting slow, feeling challenged. Eventually, I worked up to a 150 yard freestyle, then took a two minute rest. Then I swam another 50 yards and took a rest. Then I decided to try another 150. And suddenly, it was fine. I swam the 150, then 200, then 300, then 500, then 600, and stopped just because, even though I could have kept going. What up w'dat? I think my form wasn't great, and the pace was slow, but somehow I did it, just when I was feeling like it was the impossible dream. Can it be repeated consistently? What are the elements that let it come together? I think they were: 1) going slowly; 2) thinking about things besides swimming; 3) allowing myself to give up on the bi-lateral/breathing every three for awhile; 4) kicking less; 5) warming up a long, long time.

A little more than three weeks away is kind of a dangerous time, I believe...I'm more tempted to be lax w/my diet, more prone to be discouraged and doubtful...I suspect that these are typical liminal temptations, and maybe the aftermath of two hard weeks of training. My plan is simply to stay the course and see what happens. Walk the walk/swim the swim/bike the bike/run the run and the feeling will follow, as they say.

The author of the DL6WTP suggests it'stime for a couple of rest days in a row. That worries me. Will I become a slacker? I know it's not logical, and that rest is as important as everything else in this process. I'm discovering that it may be the hardest discipline for me, after all.