One Day at a Time

I did a short swim today.  It still managed to kick my butt.  It's always remarkable how much an Ironman takes out of you.  It's not too surprising in this case because of my sinus infection, allergies and the difficulty of Kona.  In fact, it's humbling, and I need to be very cautious as I recover.  Even the smallest amount of intensity can kick my butt.  As my coach reminded me today, I enjoy intensity.  I always have.  The patience of endurance training is something that I've held to for most of the last decade.  In the coming year, my focus will be on my 5K pace.  That means intensity. It also means core and strength training.  As a 60 year old athlete, these things are paramount to my future as any time of athlete.  You can fake it when you're younger, but in order to ward off the physiological changes that do occur with aging (which, btw, starts somewhere in your 30's and 40's), a focus on strength is critical.

It's been difficult to fully focus this week, between my resolving sinus infection and overall fatigue.  It's time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life.  I've written about the focus on my wife and family and their dreams, rather than mine.  At the same time, I have and always will be a goal oriented person, so as I've noted, from a physical fitness perspective, my focus will be on improving my 5K time.  My most recent 5K times have been right around 23:30-23:50.   My best 5K ever was eleven years ago, and it was my only result under 20 minutes (19:30).  I don't know what's possible, and I think that the key will actually be not setting a specific goal, but gradually lowering my times, and gradually increasing my effort and pace.  Historically, doing too much too soon is a surefire way to end up injured.

One day at a time is going to be key. For the next week or two, making sure that I recover and definitely staying focused on not overdoing it will be key.  Making progress with my fitness will need to be incremental.  Similarly, I have other personal goals that it's time for me to get started on.  I've been working on my textbook, that's at the top of my list.  One day at a time.