Personal Event Schedule

Friends,
This will not be a thoughtful post, instead I thought I'd put out my event schedule for this year in cyberspace so that I remain committed to it. Problem with going into a second year of athletics (and this coming May will mark my first year of being coached to race, not just showing up at a starting line) is that I now have some events with a "personal best" to look back on... and compare... and try not to set up unrealistic expectations!

So... here it goes:

2010 Event (Dare -I -say -"Race") Schedule:

Sunday 2/28/10: Hyannis Half- Marathon (My first 1/2 M-- and looks like it will snow!)

April: Two "C Races" (Defined as: No peak, No taper, 70% effort during race & then No recovery-- just keep on training!): Wrentham Duathlon and Rockbuster Off-Road Duathlon (the latter of which is really really really fun)

May: One "C Race": US Coast Guard Duathlon; Possible Half Century Bike Ride

June: Patriot Half-Ironman Triathlon (Anchoring event of the season as it requires a huge commitment in training thus, "A Race" b/c of taper and peak, effort is just get through this endurance event and then a loooong recovery- phew!)

July ??? Olympic Distance triathlon and/or a sprint distance tri w/ ocean swim

August: Lowell Olympic Distance Triathlon (A Race)

September: TDD Triathlon (B/C Race) and? Hale Off-Road Duathlon

October: Tufts 10K (women's- only) Road Race, Boston and
MSG Off-Road Duathlon

45th Bday, First Oly Tri 8/9/09 (Medaled!)

Overliving

I found a perfect descriptive term for my life as a (full-time, working) obgynmom attempting to train for triathlons, per Joe Friel's Training Bible, under the chapter dealing with the spectrum of over training: "Overliving". It describes the attempt to balance parenthood, full time employment and triathlon training. In particular for OBs, summertime is the time when we are very likely overliving as we try to balance these parts of life. The peak season for babies being born (just look 9 months back to see the reason), as well as vacations for colleagues AND the season for triathlons all converge into 3 months. For me, June and July flew by with 24+ -hr calls every three nights (no Mem Day, no July 4th holidays) yielding 100- hour work- weeks. In this period, I had the simultaneous joy and exhaustion of parenthood, delivering 3-4 babies every call night (typically between 1 and 5am) and training for-- and participating in-- sprint triathlons. I am sure there are similar situations with lawyers who travel, businessmen and the like (although less likley to be seasonally- based). I had a sense (not clearly until I read Friels book) of this sort of thing as I formally started training for triathlons on May 1st of this year. I decided to minimize this sort of thing by signing up with a terrific triathlon coaching service on that date. Somehow I still manged to "overlive".

On the one hand, "overliving" is appealing-- what a full life! But I am acutely aware that it is unsustainable in the long run. I have a colleague who believes it impacts the immune system and eventually may be a hit that leads to cancer. She may be right. I am familiar with fellow triathletes who get more frequent head colds or other viral infections during this season. We all know the interaction between lifestyle and the immune system is so far from being understood.

The rewards from what we do in this phase of living make it all the more difficult to bring it back to normalcy: The slightly less than normal amount of sleep is adapted by the body, the workouts completed are rewarded physiologically as the body achieves perceptible fitness, a seasoned specialist is able to rely on experience and knowledge throughout this short period at work and children and spouse accept that that it is part what makes up the worker-parent-athlete.

This past week, (finally!) having a reprieve from hospital call, on a training taper week (meaning short workouts) and glycogen (carbo-) loading in preparation for my A race, it took as much discipline to cut back on the frenetic pace as it has been to keep it going. On Sunday August 9th, in celebration of my upcoming 45th birthday, I participated in my very first International ("Olympic") Distance triathlon (1 mile swim followed by 22 mile bike followed by a 6 mile run). I was surprisingly awarded a medal as I came in third for my age group. How cool was that??!! Yes, this absolutely rewards the "overliving" I have done in the past few months, but fortunately due to my supportive family, spouse and friends I am gently reminded of the life "outside". So, shortly I will happily end this phase and move on to the "off-season".

OB/Gyns Tri-ing, July 26 2009

Culture & Sensitivity and Tri Coaching

May 15th 2009 marked my one year anniversary of committing to (near-) daily exercise. In my quest for finding the work-exercise- motherhood (and "spousehood") balance and having just bought my first road bike a few months ago (October 2008), I decided to hire a tri coach on May 1st. However, dear friends, have compassion for the tri coach as she will have to deal with this Greek chick's cultural background. Allow me to speak for me and my fellow Greeks: we love challenges... but as soon as we feel we are being herded onto a linear track, we get (and often act upon) an urge to make a zig-zag to the finish line, for no apparent reason whatsoever. I realized this urge when years ago--high school-- I got a D in English b/c I butted heads with the teacher who required an outline submitted 2 weeks prior to submission of any paper. I did not comply-- I would submit them together. (My rationale: not everybody thinks in outlines! Some writers can put thoughts on paper and then organize.) Needless to say, my friends who followed the rules got in to Nat'l Honor Society that year and I did not. However thank God even mediocre public high schools such as mine sometimes have a few truly dedicated teachers who have no interest in imposing a process. Phew! --After that, blew away AP English! Also, thank God, the greatest college on the planet, Vassar, recognized this kind of MO (and it helped to have some great grades after that stalemate) and accepted me. So, sure following the straight and narrow path is the most direct, efficient way, indeed, but not the only way to reach the finish line. Consider the alternative a "scenic route". Perhaps that is why triathlon is so popular--the training doesn't feel "linear". Perhaps that is also why trail running and off-road cycling are so appealing-- no two steps (or pedal strokes) are alike. And perhaps that is why I love my own specialty, Ob/Gyn, as it affords "scenery", albeit within a narrow path--labor (and even surgery) is so interesting because the patient's unique physiology and personality plays a role in making every single event extraordinary.


Now I have a lovely plan set up with a terrific coach. Note to coach: I'll do my best to follow it to a T, but ummmmm... a pseudopod just might sprout to test the waters outside the plan... oh yes, risk for injury, etc (why else would someone voluntarily veer off course-- to be safe?-- um, nooo!). Yes, sure I want to go for Alcatraz and a half-ironman in 2010, but given my track record for having to follow rules to get there ... "You can take the Greek out of Greece..."