There's No "I" in "Denial"

Or "They Spell 'Power Barz' With a 'Z,' So You Know It's Good."

I never really thought it would happen to me. I LOVE running, lifting weights, being fit, and competing in swim / bike / run. But I've got to be honest: Right now, I'm a little burnt out.

After the TC 10 Mile, I took it a little easy. I posted a few weeks ago that I was keeping up decent workouts after being coached by Jen. But they've gone downhill since then.

Recently, on harder runs when things start to get a little uncomfortable, I think "why am I pushing it?" And I end up not wanting to keep up the pace. I did a long run of 9 miles on Friday with the middle 5 miles hard. I wanted to build the pace, but my times were all over the place because I didn't really care. (I can usually nail my times on the head, but I did 6:40, 6:10, 6:20, 6:11, and 5:47. That's very sporadic for me.) This is just one example of what "the norm" has been for a few weeks.

I can't complain about my running. But I can complain about my desire to swim and bike. It's just not there. My bike is on the trainer on the basement. And I don't want anything to do with it. And hopping in a pool when it's below freezing outside just doesn't appeal to me.

So how am I dealing with this? I'm just letting my workouts slide right now, and I'm telling myself I'm OK with it. I've been busy in my "regular" life: I'm trying to remodel our basement bathroom, I'm getting some of my work ready for a big art sale, I'm grading a ton of student work, I'm getting ready to introduce a big, new final project to 2 of my classes that I've never done before, etc, etc. And I'm OK with not working out with a major race goal in mind.

I'm also doing what I like to do every winter: I'm trying new workouts. After my run on Friday, I went to the Y for my first "Power Barz" class. It's an hour of lighter weight / higher rep strength work. And it was good! We did about 30 minutes straight for our legs. Killer. Then we ended with upper body / core work. I enjoyed it as a change of pace, and I'd like to do it a few more times this winter.

So I'm letting some of my swim and bike fitness fade, and I'm OK with that. Soon, I'll be hitting the run a little harder again as I'd like to race the St. Paul Winter Carnival Half Marathon in mid January. It will be good to be training with a race in mind again. So I've got about 2 months to build up my miles a bit for that race.

Then, we'll see what multi-sport season holds for 2011. I thought I had a fun plan for my "A" race for the year, but I'm really re-thinking that. I don't want to be one of those people that trains for a race, gets in GREAT shape for a KILLER finish, and then stops working out and gains 40 pounds. I want to be "fit" for life. So I'm going to take it easy for a bit so I don't begin to hate training.