Feeling Better

Ironman Florida is 34 weeks away, and it occured to me that 34 weeks is about the same number of weeks from when I found out I was pregnant to when I delivered a baby. It’s going to take me the same amount of time to train my body to travel 140.6 miles as it did for my body make another human being.

Making a baby and training for an Ironman are remarkably similar. Both experiences involve a lot of eating and thinking about food. Both require shopping for clothes unique to the task. Both cause me to think about every ache and pain and what it means. Both result in visits to health care providers and both dominate my thinking.

The biggest similarity is that both inspire excitement tinged with fear. Of course, the excitement and fear related to a race is minuscule compared to having a baby, but there isn’t anything in my life that doesn’t involve a human being that comes close that level of emotion right now. Being pregnant is all about getting the baby when you’re done. Training? Isn’t training all about crossing the finish line and getting the medal?

Right now, I’m not really thinking about the race itself. I’ve been working on getting healthy before my training plan starts. With my recent hip pain, getting healthy has occupied most of my mental energy and a lot of my time. This morning, for the first time since the Maui Marathon in January, I woke up and my hip didn’t hurt. I almost couldn’t believe it. I ran every other day this past week, just three slow miles at a time. I made sure I kept moving afterwards so that I wouldn’t stiffen up and so far everything seems fine.

On the days I’m not running, I’ve continued to ride the bike trainer. I’m now watching the first season of Dexter, season two of Downton Abbey and Grey’s Anatomy. I had never seen a single episode of Grey’s Anatomy, so I’ve started with the first one of the first season. I think that means that I’m 8 seasons behind and totally uncool. Maybe in another 5 years I can start watching Big Bang Theory or 30 Rock after all of the cool people have moved on to something else.

Now that I’m feeling better and the weather so much nicer, I’m more excited than ever about training. I know that I’m still healing and that my back and hip are still fragile, so I’m going to stick with the shorter runs for a while. I’m planning on heading back to the pool this week and I’ll just have to see if I can do it. Last time I swam, the pain in my back and hip made it clear that swimming was not a good idea. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just stick with the short runs and the bike. With 140 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy to catch up on along with Downton Abbey and the first season of Dexter all waiting for me, I’m never going to want to go outside!