Soreness and Aches and Pains OH MY!

When your friends and teammates all encourage you to sign up for an Ironman, they talk about how fun the training will be and how the experience is simply the best ever. It's funny how they never talk to you about the down side. Maybe they just assume you already know. Or maybe it's all part of their evil plan. Someone convinced THEM to sign up for an Ironman even though they knew better and so it is their mission in life to make sure they do the same to someone else. Yes, I believe that's it.

With more & more frequency, I find myself waking up in the morning and can almost literlly hear my body creaking. After long, intense workouts, muscles I didn't know I had seem to cry "UNCLE" and beg me to rest them. My knees, which haven't given me issues in years are starting to feel fatigued. I've never had back problems (thankfully) but can feel them starting to creep in after long bike rides. Shoulder pain? Never! Well, never until I started swimming freakish amounts on a weekly basis. My left ankle has given me serious grief ever since I injured it playing soccer several years ago but now both ankles regularly feel weak. I try to be good about doing the exercises my physical therapist had given me all those years ago but it can be hard to remember. As if all the above isn't bad enough, there are times where I'm sitting and the muscles in my right butt cheek just start firing. Ok, I know what you're thinking, "You have muscles in your butt?" Yes, yes I do as hard as it is to believe!

I've chalked up all the new aches & pains to the fact that I am now closer to 40 years of age than 30 and so inevitably, the body is going to just crap out. It never occurred to me that the real reason is that I'm working out more AND with more intensity than ever before. No, that couldn't be the culprit could it? Whether the cause is age or workouts, the soreness is real and it's taking on a personality all it's own. I find myself talking to tired muscles/body parts on a regular basis. "Foot, if you could find it in your heart to quit yelling at me and let me finish this run before it gets dark, I promise I will get you a pedicure." No, that hasn't worked for me yet. "Calves, if you would please stop cramping up immediately off the bike and during the early part of my run, I PROMISE I will stop calling you big & fat & manly." Nope, the calves aren't listening to my empty promises either.

As I sit here, 12 weeks out from the eve of IMTX, I wonder what other sore body parts are waiting to make an appearance. I think the only thing that hasn't hurt on me the past several months has been my hair. Maybe my eyebrows. Oh yeah, my eyelids have felt awesome too! My nose has been A-OK! See, look at that. Lots of parts are just fine!

Putting the final touches on this post, I can feel the arch in my left foot starting to relax and the throbbing in my right quad subside. My knee seems to be resting a bit and giving me a break. You know, even with pain I feel at times, it's pretty cool to be learning what my body is capable of. I'm not the skinniest, not the strongest, not the fastest and not the most athletic and none of that seems to matter to my body. It plugs along and it's going to get me through IMTX no matter what. Soreness and Aches and Pain? Heck yes!!!! But as I've heard before (and sorry, don't know who to attribute this quote to), "pain is just weakness leaving the body". Well, I should be one strong lady come race day!

Happy training!!!!