The Effects of "Juicing"

            I haven’t been doing much in the way of triathlon since the World Championships last September.  I’ve ridden my cruiser bike, usually pulling kids, occasionally.  Running has mainly just been sprinting with track.  Although I did a couple distance workouts in July and loved how it made me feel.  I miss that part about tri training – feeling so exhausted.  It’s motivating.  I’ve also done a few distance runs up to 3 miles that were fairly slow. 

            I try to swim twice a week, but have gone weeks without, but that’s where I started to notice a change first.  That, and being able to complete Crossfit workouts without feeling like I was lightheaded and quickly short of breath.  In my final seasons of triathlon, I had been getting frustrated with swimming (and all training really) because I could not hit the times/paces that I used to.  Sometimes not even close.  But my swim times started dropping recently – with a mix of old and new workouts.  I was feeling powerful in the water like I used to.  I was getting faster.  In one of my new workouts, I was hitting times faster than I ever have in a workout – and within 1 second of my 100 time in my swim meet, during my fastest swimming time in my life.  Was this the iron treatments kicking in?  I didn’t feel lightheaded, and I felt strong in both lungs and muscles.

            So I recently did a couple progression runs (this spring, getting under 10 minute pace was a big deal), and my final mile times dropped to 8:12, 7:55, and then 7:32.  I ran a timed mile and ran 6:33, and while that’s not my old 6 minute mile time, I’ve also hardly been running.  I still want to keep things low key with only 2 swims per week and now upping to 3 runs/week.  I don’t want to go crazy and push too hard, too fast, or feel like I need to return to a heavy load of training, but I start to wonder… “What’s possible?”  I haven’t asked that of myself in a long time.  I thought triathlons weren't even going to enter my mind again.

            I could not have done triathlons this summer.  My body was not ready.  The iron treatments I believe have changed everything though.  It took nearly 5 months after having Rowyn, but I finally feel GOOD, like I should. I’m on daily iron pills and will need to be retested in follow-up appointments but I'm on the right track.  Speaking of which, taking this past summer to focus solely on track has also been refreshing, and a much-needed mental break.  I’m hoping good things lie ahead – whatever they may be.