Post Ironman

  It has been about 3 weeks now since I finished my first Ironman.  I had heard of post Ironman....stress type things while doing my training. What do you do after you finish the race? Do you keep training? Wait, I don't have to bike 6 hours this weekend? I can have a life? WHAT? I can sleep in? I'm not sure what the usual
"aftermath" for most people is, but I definitely had some sort of  post "Ironman PTSD". When I say PTSD I don't mean I had the desire to do another. In fact, I am cool with my one ironman for the time being. Maybe when I am fat and older I'll do another.

Firstly, I literally did nothing for a week after the race. I had no desire to bike (i didn't even go to work on my bike), run, and i even cancelled my swim club membership. This was followed by the shock of having weekends back,  the attempt to get "back into exercise", the "I want to try a new sport", then the "I want to train differently" stages. I've kind of been all over the place. I am ok with it, haha.

Honestly, I got sick after the race.  I felt like crap (just a cold, but still), but was relieved that this happened post exercising for 13 hours. Sometimes, when you finally STOP doing things...your body freaks out. My first attempt to run was weird and awkward (a few weeks later). I felt out of shape. I mean doing 4 miles vs. double digits? what? I tried to run fast, which felt weird too.

So now what?  Well, I workout when I want to workout. I run as fast as I feel like for that day. I do TRX more often. My mountain bike has seen more use than my road (weird).  I went to my first cyclocross race (and did it actually), which was a blast. I got a tattoo, saw my parents, cleaned out my entire room (well that's still in the process), caught up with old friends, gone on dates (ya, i finally can now), drank beer (wait, that's not different), and re-evaluated a lot of things. I can't complain....but I definitely am so glad I did the Ironman.  It means so much more than just a time or a medal, especially for me.  It definitely means ....

1: i am sort of an overachiever...which goes along with my mountains of trophies from being 8 years old. 2: Despite injuries/set backs/stuff, can still be done 3: i am a smarter racer than I ever imagined 4: goal setting is something I should keep doing 5: YOLO 6: cliche, but put your mind to something, have fun, and anything's possible. 7: i don't actually like lists that look like a big paragraph. 8: friends/family rock. 9: I could barely run down the street my soph year in college (i kind of had an 80 year old back). and now what back problems!?? and finally 10: work hard, play harder.

I'm trying to drag people in with me to do some more races next year. If you're looking for a ass-kicking let me know :)

I need to get my laundry.



I was meant to ride bikes. Check out the basket. HARDCORE

Until next time..