So I’ve been silent for some days now. The reason is that my life has been a sad mixture of boredom, I was sick for over a week and spent most of my time reading, and self-inflicted torture, the Ironman approaches. I could use this blog as an outlet for my vast amounts of self-pity and whining, but I figure it’s better reserved for contemplative thoughts and feeling of joy and triumph.
The bricks in the title of this post refer to one of my new training methods, which is simply biking followed immediately by running, no break. As I recently learned, some creative genius termed such a workout a brick, as that’s how your tired legs feel when you start running. While I’m not thrilled with the name, I can verify the feeling is none too pleasant.
I’ve also been swimming greater distances and am finally beginning to feel at home in the water. When this all began some months ago anything more than a lap or two in the pool left me breathless, now I can go for a couple hours. Unfortunately, I still can’t claim to have much in common with a fish, but I should be able to swim the 3.8km that the Ironman requires.
When I decided to do an Ironman a little over a year ago I thought to myself the race is only 17 hours. How bad can one day be? I’ll have to add that to the list of the most foolish thoughts I’ve ever had. The race may only be a day, but the training lasts a whole lot longer. Still, if there is anything I’ve learned in my travels it’s that something earned is worth 10 times as much as something simply received. Only agony can lead to ecstasy.