20 October 2010

Ironman to Weakman

I should have seen it coming...I mean I practically foretold my future. I think my words were "I don't care how sick I get...blah blah blah." I got sick on Thursday September 16th. It got slightly better after Chesapeakeman, but I never fully recovered. Then Brayden got sick again and so did I. I finally broke down and took some Musinex and Sudafed PE for about 5-6 days. Well I'm still not completely better, I can't get rid of the little glob of mucus that seems to have implanted itself into the back of my throat. Stinkin nagging persistent cold.

I went from making myself not workout for 9 days post IM to being plain lazy. At first it was all I could do to keep myself from working out, to now having to pep myself up to attempt a workout. I've run 3 times since the race. Yesterday was the first run I've had where my knee didn't hurt...apparently I did some damage from all the training and the race. I've also swam 3 times. The first attempt being more like I was swimming in tar, but the last two swims felt really good surprisingly. Well, minus the under water coughs and hacking up mucus between laps. Still no bike.

So let's do the math shall we....3+3=6. A total of 6 whopping workouts since September 25th. Ladies and gentlemen, I might have figured out the fastest possible route to go from the best physical shape of your life to turning into a ball of mush.

I don't think I've completely lost my fitness, but wow, my breathing right now is horrible. I can't get into a comfortable breathing pattern and I'm getting the worst stomach cramps/side stitches I've ever had. I do believe I've walked more in the last 3 runs than I did during that marathon. My legs feel fine running. My arms and breathing feel great in the pool, I just can't put my finger on what is going on.

Is this normal post IM? Several people told me it would take about a month to completely feel "normal" again. Maybe I'm still recovering? Whatever, I actually haven't gained any weight back which shocks me but I feel like a tub of lard. Gotta get off my lazy butt and at least get back into a normal exercise routine.

3 comments:

Michelle Simmons said...

It definitely can take a full month to recover from an Ironman. I've found that it depends. Sometimes are better than others! In good news, it's not that you are as out of shape as you feel. It's just that now that you've been in ironman shape, no other shape feels good enough! Hence, the addiction. ;)
Rest up!

Angela and David said...

It can take a while, and it can take even longer for the fire to come back. Cut yourself some slack and just enjoy some time. Get back to training when it starts to feel right.

N.D. said...

I think you'll be back soon. I wouldn't worry about it! :)