It has been awhile since I have written anything so anytime is better than any I guess. A lot of things have transpired since I did the cleanse diet.
One, I was terrible shortly after completing the diet becoming the unhealthiest I have been in six years (I would go into the psychology of this effect but I want to keep this post short) and got sick twice. I developed some bad eating habits and it cost me. It occurred during the worse winter of my lifetime but I can't blame it on that. I was undisciplined and erratic with my nourishment.
Two, besides my diet, I executed my off season to perfection. I trained enough to say in good shape but rested well enough where I felt refreshed and rejuvenated when I started training in February.
Third, by the end of March, I was reaching rare air in my training. My running was coming along brilliantly. My stride and cadence started to approach high school cross country status. Biking has always been my ultimate strength (especially the past two seasons) but running holds the biggest room of improvement and I finally started to reach real progress. Qualifying for the World Championship and redeeming my performance from last year's Ironman 70.3 Syracuse quickly became an obtainable goal. I was averaging 7:00-7:15 minute miles on my training runs and felt stronger on every run. Then...
....I did something really stupid....
I played basketball with some friends from work, which was fine until the time elapsed reached two plus hours. We were playing these noobs (that is not an exaggeration, one of the players was playing basketball for the first time in his life) 3 on 3. We easily won twice and it didn't seem logical to play another game but yet, like so many times in my life, I get convinced to do something I know I shouldn't be doing and play one more game. The game starts off smoothly but quickly into the game, I go for a rebound after my teammate misses a jumper. I plant my right knee and the noob (yes, the same person who is breaking his pick-up game virginity) backs into knee and it goes the wrong way (1). I heard a pop sound and I was sure I tore my ACL.
(1) I swear to you, when my knee went in, I saw exactly what happened. Now, I don't mean I was looking down at my knee and witnessed what occurred, but I was able to see exactly how my knee responded to the hit as if ESPN's Sports Science was doing a special on my knee. I saw my knee go in, dislocate and the tendons pull it back into position. In real time, it was a millisecond, but in this supernatural vision, it lasted much longer. It was surreal I will never forget it.
Luckily enough, it ended up being a dislocation and no permanent damage was done. That was the good news.
The bad news, it was a major set back in my training, putting me back three weeks where all I could is swim and bike on the trainer (I know, I am being dramatic), but my running would take the biggest hit. I ended up not signing up for Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, which is extremely disappointing since I wanted to wreck the course that humbled me more than any other (that includes Ironman Wales). If I wasn't so focused on qualifying for the World Championship, I would have done the race to enjoy the rare atmosphere that comes with participating in a triathlon and attempt to take wrath on the course that destroyed me.
However, money is tight and I have to pick my moments, which now puts a lot of pressure on the Timberman. The same race where I was short breaking 5 hours by a mere 46 seconds.
Nonetheless, this is the task. This is my motivation. I have to put all my chips in the basket because as time moves along, I lose quality training hours. No excuses though. I have to hold myself accountable. I have already cost myself a golden opportunity to do something extremely rare and special. I thought I was invincible. I was wrong.
"We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different. Now...Where was I?" -Leonard Shelby
