Anyways, I have been pretty quiet for the past few months but as race season is already upon me it is high time to revive the blog. This post will serve as my very brief Coronation Race Report, which was my first race of the season and occurred on May 25th, but first - a few life updates.
First of all, I had a good reason for my silence. I don't like being a Debbie Downer online and chose silence while I rectified some rather serious health concerns.
You see, for several months this winter those folks with stethoscopes who know all matter of maladies were concerned that something was wrong with the red doo-dad in my chestal area and thus banned me from all things physical. After some weakness and exhaustion around Christmas, I had a few instances where the typical lub-dub activity of my ticker decided to march to it's own tune. Unfortunately, the tune it was listening to was that of a drummer in a marching band on triple fast-forward. Long story short, I spent A LOT of time in front of insanely well educated homo sapiens as they ran me through a gauntlet of diagnostic tests - during which I wasn't training at all.
1) You can't train.
2) You have a penalty for a race infraction.
3) We're out of bananas.
The worst part was the fact I was told I couldn't train AND THEN came home to a house WITHOUT BANANAS!!! Oh the banana-induced horror!
Suffice to say, I survived, my ticker is alright, and after months of corrective behavior my health rebounded. But the ordeal cost me about 4 months of vital base season, making this race season go from one where I was expecting to have a season of killer personal bests, to one where I am simply pushing to hit last year's times. It's frustrating, and I have had many Debbie Downer moments along the way.
I also had a few positive moments.
Against better judgement, I raced a swim race in early February. I went fast. I broke personal bests. It was awesome. I slept for two days after due to my health struggles. I dreamed weird dreams. That was also awesome.
No love is ever as pure as an exhausted man and his bed.
In April, I won bronze in the Provincial Winter Aquathlon Series for the Elite Men - solely on points I had gained racing in the series before the Health Crisis of 2014 hit. It was also awesome.
April I was allowed to begin easing back into training, but it has been a struggle. As of my race at May end - I still had yet to do a full week of training, although I am almost back to normal. My health did not recover quite as fast as I would have liked and I still was having episodes of exhaustion and loss of appetite up until a few weeks ago.
I am as stubborn as a mule in a Family Guy cutaway, however, and soon I found myself half asleep at the Peter Hemmingway pool deck waiting for my race wave to start for the Coronation Triathlon.
This was my fourth year competing in this race. It's a local event, but is special to me as it was on this course that I completed my first triathlon in May 2011 and fell head over heels in love with the sport.
My race was quite unremarkable. I have no photos from the day save from waiting for the race to start with some of my fantastical and silly team-mates.
It was neither my worst race on the course nor my best. But I did post a personal best for my swim time, transition times, and bike time. I exited the water in second place and finished the run in tenth. The run was about as fast as a tortoise waking up from a nap.
I enjoyed it though, and it hardened my resolve to keep working. I have my health back now, and I have a benchmark of where my fitness is entering into this season. Despite the frustration my winter was, I am excited to see what the summer race season has in store!
Talk to you soon, home slices.
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| www.xkcd.com |
- Bry
