I am now three weeks removed from Ironman Wisconsin. It feels good to not have to get up at 5AM and hop on the trainer or head out the door for a run. I mean don’t get me wrong I am still doing stuff and already have a grand plan for my next race cycle but only training once a day.
Immediately following IMWI, I remember telling Lindsey and my family that I was never going to do anything like that again….but I also said that after we ran our first marathon together in 2008. I am currently on number 12. Slowly but surely in the days following the race my mind began to wonder. What if I do this? What if I buy that? Maybe I could try this? If only? Blah Blah Blah….it could go on and on. In the week following Wisconsin I kind of had a strong urge to race another one in 2013 but man I am glad now at this point that I did not pull the trigger and go sign up for one.
I do have a strong desire to race another Ironman in the future just not anytime soon. Maybe 3-5 years from now? All those questions in my head about what if I do believe I have the answer for them and can make big jumps in my performance (I’d like to crack the Top 10 in my Age Group and depending on the course flirt with breaking 10:00:00 hours) but alas that will have wait for another day and I am okay with that.
Ironman training is hard. Really hard actually and not just on the athlete. If you are not single this means getting a huge buy-in from your wife, girlfriend, SO, partner, whatever because if you are racing an Ironman they essentially are as well. Throw a pregnancy and a newborn 10 weeks out from the race and you  reach a whole new stratosphere of buy-in/commitment. Because when you are training, everything you do revolves around the training. I mean everything! You are consumed by it. It was all that I thought about. Day and night. It would not be fair to Lindsey and Marshall for me to jump back into that sort of thing and frankly I don’t think I have the mental horepower to jump back on the horse in 2013. I will live to fight another day.
I will never fully understand what Lindsey had to go through with Marshall and everything while my training block was at its pinnacle. I can only begin to imagine what it was like. I am and will be forever grateful for her sacrifice. Thank you Lindsey!
Moving forward my focus is shifting back to running. As that is what I really love to do. I believe running is a great test of mental and physical strength and endurance. I look forward to lacing them up again and really getting after it.
My current plan is to ride the wave of fitness from Wisconsin into a the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon in early November. I raced the Indianapolis Mini Marathon on May and really enjoyed racing that distance so I am going to take another crack at it. My goal for the race is break 1:20:00. That will be hard but I believe I can do it. In May, I ran in the low 1:24’s in some god awful conditions. Sunny and unbearable humid. So I am thinking in November race conditions should be a little more favorable. We will see how it goes.
After that I am going to do nothing! NOTHING! I mean nothing!!! I am planning on unplugging and recharging the mind and body for a few weeks in November. Probably until after Thanksgiving. I know so many people that go, go, go all the time. They never step back and recharge. 2012 has been a huge year for me both personally (Marshall…hello!) and training volume wise so I want to use the month of November as a  rest period and pivot point to mark the end of one year and the beginning of a new year because come December 1 its Marathon season.
In April 2013, I will run 2:45:00 at the Carmel Marathon.
-Be Consistent.
Glenn
