The Love and Hate of Friday's

Recently I have started to develop a love/hate relationship with Friday's.  Strange, because I used to only LOVE friday's.  Lately the "love" part has changed a bit where I am happy because my workout schedule provides a full day of rest with no workouts (although I usually do some core work and general stretching).  I also still love the fact that it is the end of the work week and the start of the weekend.  Who doesn't like that?  I also love them because I know the weekend will have some challenging workouts on the schedule.

However, the "hate" part is fairly new to me.  I think the reason for this disdain stems from the amount of time and energy the weekend workouts require.  It seems they are officially taking over the entire two days leaving little time for anything else.  Yup, this must be a sign that I am in peak training for Ironman.  Don't get me wrong, I generally enjoy working out, but I have found that an 8.5 hour workout on Saturday followed by a 3 hour workout on Sunday doesn't leave me with too much time for anything else.  Unless you have trained for an Ironman, it is hard to describe the feeling after an 8.5 hour workout.  For me, I usually spend the first couple hours after the workout trying to eat and hydrate.  Sometimes that can be difficult because the stomach is often stressed and not cooperating.  After those couple hours and a shower, you start feeling better but the legs, hamstrings, calves and quads get stiff and you become tired and really like the thought of relaxing on a comfy couch.  You are rearely rejuvenated or motivated enough to take on any big project.  Furthermore, by this time it is getting close to dinner and your appetite is really beginning to surge.  It is also around this time that you realize you should get to bed early because you have to get up early the next day to beat the heat and do the next day's workout.  And that closes out Saturday.

Lets face it, Ironman is a selfish pursuit that eats up a ton of time.  Nobody can really argue that.  It begins to feel like you are always working out or recovering from those workouts on the weekends.  Chores and social activities become limited and eventually seem to disappear.  Before you know it you start to feel like you are not contributing around the house (because you are not).  In addition you start to realize that the people you care about (friends and family) are also paying the price in this selfish endevor.  I am thankful to have a supportive wife who agreed to let me take on this lifelong goal and I truly appreciate her help, support and understanding in all of this craziness!

This is all part of the package of becomming an Ironman.  Hell, if it were easy everyone would be an Ironman.  However, there is no doubt in the second half of an Ironman training plan, my perspective on Friday's and the attitude towards the weekend has changed.  It hasn't been easy and it won't get easier in the next few weeks, but I continue to hold my head up high and continue moving forward regardless of how I feel mentally or physically.  Perhaps Charles Dickens summed it up best....."It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness".