Disney Half Build 1 recap

Post-Ironman, I wanted to recover while not forgetting how good it feels to be strong. This last month was mostly focused on that. I can feel the difference between my strongest self and my current self, but overall am pleased with the amount of fun I was able to pack in while not focusing on exercise, and hope that the differences I am seeing in performance will help motivate me when I'm ready to chase

Mini-goal assessment

• Keep TSB score positive while starting to move again - Success! I was able to overcome the "all exercise all the time" mentality for a few weeks. I could have used a bit more balance, but it worked out well with life
• Go out to weeknight events! (Movie, book reading, theater) - Success! I went to see The Martian and enjoyed the full movie theater experience with popcorn and also went to see a show at Woolly Mammoth. The book reading was superseded with other events, but that's ok.
• Cheer for friends! (IMMD and Tussey) - Success! IMMD was great fun cheering and volunteering, and at Tussey, I ended up relaying in a team of 4, so it was mobile cheering!

Review of the weeks since Ironman

• No bootcamps
• 2 Yoga
• Swam
• at only 3 practices
• Ran
• 4 run leads
• 0 track practices
• 1 weeknight bonus short run
• 6 mi at long run - should have been 9
• 13 miles at Tussey
• Biked
• Tough 10 miles the week after IM
• Recovery 2 hours at PWF
• 67 delicious miles at Great Pumpkin Ride
• 30 mi long ride
• Night out at 80's concert
• Night out for Halloween

Mini-goals for the next build cycle (Nov 7-27)

• Bike commute 30 miles
• Get to 4 yoga sessions
• Do PT/Hip stretches 10 times

Great Pumpkin Epic Tussey Weekend

The Great Pumpkin Ride was great, as advertised. I met up with some friends (who had just done IMMD the week before!!) and we rode the 67 mile route together. I had a little ego battle riding from the first to second aid stations and really paid for it at the end of the ride by completely running out of energy.

There were three aid stations, so 4 segments of the ride, and for the third and fourth segments I was dropped by my teammates pretty terribly. 2 lessons learned - 1. Don't ride too hard if you don't want to pay for it later, 2. Don't expect much from your biking power if you take almost a month off.

From there, I drove up to Tussey to meet up with my teammates to relay 50 miles through the woods. It was amazingly beautiful, and cheering for our friends who were racing the 50 miler as individuals was also amazing. Autumn woods are almost my favorite scenery, right after spring daffodils, and this course definitely came through in that respect

With three legs each for us relayers, it was easy to run too hard, which made Monday after this epic weekend pretty tough. My legs were screaming almost as much as they do after an A-race, but I'd done it to myself by scheduling too much fun in two days. I hope to talk people into this relay again next year, and just have to remember not to assign myself the role of the second person in the rotation. I think that was definitely the hardest position of the day.
Besides that, I've also transitioned to a new job within my company, which is adding a lot of non-workout stress to my life. It's very hard to go from being really good at your daily job to being a novice, but hopefully this will continue to get better week by week.