Day 2 of Trying Not to Be Consumed by Triathlon

Today I went to the Y to do my 30 minutes on the stationary bike in Zone 1.  I thought, this is going to be ridiculously easy... which it was and it wasn't.  The exertion was really easy.  I barely broke a sweat.  But, my hamstrings evidently have not yet forgiven me for the 70.3.  They were okay during the ride, but decided to twitch to the point that it was a pronounced feeling for 1/2 an hour afterwards.  I hear your complaints and they have been registered! 

I had a feeling my hamstrings might not yet be on speaking terms with me after my massage yesterday.  Every other muscle was greatful for the massage, feeling happy and relaxed the more they were massaged.  My hamstrings shouted out in pain and tried to make me cry from the agony.  They were more relaxed afterwards, but I had to laugh when the masseuse told me that my "glutes were hard as rocks."  Isn't that what we all dream of?  A rock hard butt?  Unfortunately, I don't think she meant it in the "woo hoo. nice butt" sort of way.

I will baby my hamstrings some more today by doing lovely stretches for them.  Hopefully they won't get too mad.  They don't hurt while I walk around.  I happily can say that muscle pain is gone and only a little nerve pain remains (which hopefully will be eradicated by this afternoon's appointment with the chiropractor).  And even the nerve pain is less than it was before... I thank the massage therapist for that one.  She said she could tell that I needed an adjustment.

As for my return to life outside of triathlon during my recovery period, I'm not sure how well I'm really doing on that one.  Other than working, hanging with the little ladies, and doing some laundry, cooking and dishes, I spent my free time yesterday planning my races for next season.  I have to say that promising Mr. Darcy that I would not do any 70.3's this year has been a little bit torturous.  There are a lot of awesome 70.3's out there with great looking courses, etc.  And there's something a bit addictive about the Ironman 70.3 thing that no one tells you about.  Now that I've done one, I want to do more.  As Missy said to me on the phone the other day, "You've drunk the cool-aid."  And I liked it.

But, I know that my children and my husband need me to be around more, and that is the most important thing of all.  I have to admit that with Mr. Darcy working until at least 1 am every night this week, it was nice this morning to have both Angelfish and Ladybug be upset when Mr. Darcy was the one to take them to school and not me.  I felt bad they were crying, but happy that they wanted to be with their Momma!  And besides, I'll be spending my time trying to get faster, and especially improve my run.

I'd like to eventually be able to run in races at a 10 minute mile pace.  For me, that would be super fast!  Somehow I have to figure out how to get weight off which will help with the speed.  It's not easy when I have PCOS which makes my cortisol hang out in the rather high zone... I wonder if there's medicine for that.  It's hard to understand how I can train like a mad thing, eat less than I'm supposed to (sticking the majority of the time to the 20% fat and the good fats), and still not lose a pound. There's got to be something to help.  My body composition has changed some... even Mr. Darcy commented earlier this week that my legs were really toning up... but the scale has not and I'm no longer losing clothing sizes either.  It makes me fearful to eat during recovery... but not to worry, I am eating healthy whenever I get hungry.

Anyway.  I'd love to look like a triathlete as well as be one.  But I will settle for getting more toned and getting faster.

See?  It's all still coming round to triathlon.  But I did start a non-triathlon related book last night.  It's really good, but I fell asleep pretty quickly.  I think I'm still catching up to myself.

Well, the tummy is grumbly... so I'm off for an egg, a non-fat Activia yogurt and a V-8!