Uh, shouldn't you be running?

Last night Dan and I had a heart to heart.
Me: 'I don't know if I'm making the right decision. This is so hard. I never thought I'd have to give up something I love.'
Dan: 'I told you this was going to be hard. I warned you when you first made your choice.'
Me: 'But I've made so much progress! What if I lose it all? What if I have to start back at square one?'
Dan: 'You won't be starting back at square one. The same thing happened when you gave up marathon training for Ironman training. You were getting really good. Faster with every race. And then you decided to do Ironman.'
Me: (Voice raising... just a little) 'This is all your fault! (Not really) We decided to do Ironman together. If you had just kept running marathons, I might never have started Ironman!'
Dan: 'You have to make a choice. I don't care what you choose, but you can't have both.'
Me: 'I know, and I know what my decision is. I really, really, really want to qualify for Boston. And I think I can do it. Maybe I should look at it this way- when I'm done in January and start training for Wisconsin, even if I have my slowest bike EVER in Ironman at least my run will be solid. (Up till now, my run is where I fall apart.) Maybe if I go a little slower on the bike, I'll be better fueled and I'll run way faster.'
Dan: 'Definitely. Look at your times. Arizona 2007 was your slowest bike leg, but by far your fastest run. Even if your bike is that slow (which it won't be!!!)... your run will be 45 minutes faster. You could be under 12 hours!
Me: 'Thanks, baby. You always know what to say to make me feel better.'

This conversation occured when, laying in bed last night, Dan asked me what my plans were for the morning. I told him I was going to go for a bike ride after I dropped my car off for an oil change, and he seemed confused. 'Shouldn't you be running?' he innocently inquired.

Seriously. I have been beating myself up. I have avoided creating a training plan because I didn't want to actually put pen to paper and write out all bike training. I thought I could just ignore the time clicking away, and continue to leisurely run and bike and swim whenever I feel like it. No can do. I am now under 8 weeks from my official start date and I must get conditioned to running 6 days a week, with much more mileage than Ironman training affords. So, I am not going to think about poor Trixie, sadly hanging from her hook in the garage. I am going to strap on my running shoes and hit the road and not look back. Come January, when I get back on the bike, I'll be stronger and leaner and fitter and faster! Ok maybe not faster. But I'll work at it just like I have the last 24 months. And it will come. I will live on my bike. And I will get it back. Maybe I'll even reward my accomplishment (assuming I qualify) with a sparkly new tri-bike. Ooooooh. Now we're talking.

So this morning, instead of going for a bike ride, I took my training log into the waiting room of the car dealership and wrote out a plan for the next 8 weeks. No excuses now. And when my car was finished I drove to the gym and did a mile warm up on the treadmill, followed by a leg circuit with cardio mixed in - 2 minutes on the treadmill after each set of 3- and finished up with a mile cooldown. Then I swam 2000 yds (very easy of course) and then went to yoga. I think the yoga instructor read my mind cause she really focused on stretching hamstrings today- and ironically mine have been soooo tight lately. So it was all good. And tomorrow morning I think I'll go for a run.