Post-Ironman Blues - 11/16/15

So, I finally hit the post-Ironman period of non-motivation to do anything, especially running. I had been doing well even though the running was not all that fun, then my back went out after an evening shift two weeks ago and I've run twice, swam twice, and biked once, since then. I did my first hot yoga class the day after, and I'm sure I'd have really enjoyed it otherwise. It didn't make my back feel any better, but it also didn't make it any worse. It took 4-5 days for my back to feel normal again. I went for a 40 mile bike ride with Andrea that Sunday, and aside from my lower body being extremely crampy, I had fun. It's always nice riding with Andrea because she motivates me to get better. She's my carrot. That and she's one of those people who are just fun to be around so the ride went by pretty quick. It was after my last of 4 midnight shifts, so I'd been up for about 16 hours by the end of the ride. It's sad how quickly a 40 mile ride can be too long for me to go do on a whim when a little over a month ago I did 116 miles. I didn't do a long run last weekend. I did 10 miles the weekend before. I was suppose to do 12 miles, but hadn't run all week. I proceeded to then do nothing all this past week until Thursday. I did a 2 mile run before work because my Garmin was being a dick. I took that as a sign that I should upgrade to the 920xt, which just so happened to be going on sale at REI on Friday. Needless to say, I went and bought it. I love it! Swam with it at Saturday morning RAM practice and it worked great, although at practice I realized that in order to track the yardage during kick sets it needs to be in "drill" mode. I've only had to charge it once and I've been wearing it continuously since Friday evening, through 2 swim practices and a 3 mile run, and it still has about 75% battery charge. It tracks steps and sleep, which is great. It's super light so even though it's a bit big on my wrist, it doesn't feel heavy or bulky. I went to an IOS get together at Clouds Brewing Company downtown before work on Saturday. It was nice to hang out and chat with people I've become close to over the past year. So, here's the depressing part, I was suppose to do 10-14 miles on Sunday. It didn't happen. I ran 3 miles. I told myself I'd probably do more harm than good to try to fit that in after so much time off. So, I'm gonna do a slow build back to 10. I'd rather be under trained for the marathon than injured and unable to do it. The problem is my lack of motivation to do anything athletic aside from swimming when the weather starts getting cold, and swimming stroke is killing my back. I also missed a ride that I really wanted to go on on Sunday because I felt like I had to run. That and I slept in because I worked until midnight. That meant I couldn't fit my run in before the ride. Ugh. I went to swim practice today as I mentioned before. I was lat because of traffic and had to leave early because of work. I'm really looking forward to my 3 days off without any major plans or trips. I haven't had that in a very long time. I did go to Asheville the last stretch of days off, which was a lot of fun, but it was still a trip. I will be getting a lot of cleaning done. Much needed and long overdue.