A day in the life of an average age grouper
Ok all you age group triathletes out there, here is my recount of what many of us go through on a daily basis just to be able to train. What I am about to talk about is how as age group triathletes our daily lives seemingly work against us getting that all important training in. Today was a prime example of the worst possible obstacles trying to keep me from my training. I truly think how we deal with these obstacles and adapt our training around them is what makes us who we are.
Tuesday nights sleep was spotty at best. We had a sick child come in and wake us up at 3am, which seemed like 2 minutes after I fell asleep. The alarm goes off at 4:45am and there is no way I'm going in early to work out before work this morning. I reset my alarm and get another half hour of sleep before the day begins in earnest. I'm thinking at this point hey a good lunch swim and post work run and I'm back on track. Oh crap!! I forgot I have a lunch meeting at work today. Ok, maybe I can sneak off for a little bit this afternoon after the meeting to swim. No go, it was a busy afternoon in the office. And to top it all off I can feel a cold coming on now. As the day progresses I physically feel worse. I am achy and starting to have chills, although it's hard to tell if the achy is from working out too hard this week. You see I showed up for my basketball league early last Sunday in hopes I could get a little extra running in subbing on another team before my normal game. Oh I got a little extra running alright. Not only did the team I subbed on have only 7 guys, my team for the game right after only had 5 of us show up until we recruited 1 extra player so we could at least get a little break every now and then. Monday morning I felt like someone had used me for a punching bag. And 3 days later I am still sore but it is getting better.
So back to Wednesday. I forced myself to go to the gym after work. Ran a reasonable 3 miles on the dreadmill and swam 1500m. It felt good to get the workout in but by the time I was done, I was feeling physically finished. On my way home from work I forced myself to down a protein shake and an apple. I have officially lost my appetite another bad sign for the cold, but hey this could help with that extra weight I've been trying to drop. : ) Chills, sweating, back and forth all the way home. I stop and pick up some Zicam to try and get this cold under control quickly before it gets worse. Get home, talk with my wife for a few minutes and its off to bed. What a day!
In retrospect I can take the following out of the day. I still made it a priority to get in a workout. I didn't put in quite the distance I wanted in the swim but something was better than nothing. I have learned to adapt my anticipated schedule as the day progresses. Zicam is king!! I went to bed feeling awful. I got up this morning feeling awful, but already I am feeling better. I didn't bring my workout clothes to work today so I wouldn't feel obligated to workout. If I feel up to it tonight I'll hit the trainer for a bit otherwise rest and Zicam will get me through the cold the fastest.
Now this is not an average day in my life but it is a good example of what an age group triathlete can have to deal with. Sound familiar to anyone???
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