learning the right lessons

Training has been, in short, very frustrating lately. Granted, its the winter and motivation wanes something fierce. But motivation isn't my primary issue.

It's running. Again.

Anyone who has trained with me knows I tend to be injury-prone. Running seems to bring out more injuries than I can keep up with, which makes triathlon a bit more tricky than usual. When I started training with Team Z, I was injured (everyone's favorite - the IT band) but decided to spend more time swimming long, which worked well for me. But I always kept Ironman in the back of my mind and made it a goal to get there the following year. And then it was the next year, and so on and so forth. Add a new injury every year and that's a pretty good representation of my running training the past 4 years.

But, after consistent, controlled training, lots of PT, orthotics and doing my best to do everything a good, little triathlete should, I am still, for all intents and purposes, at the same place I have been for 2 years. So after yet another frustrating run this afternoon, I had the feeling that I may not be learning the right lessons. Maybe it's time I did.

I want to do Ironman. Badly. I knew that I had to work my way up slowly but I assumed that I would, eventually, get to the point where I could complete a half Ironman and maintain the level of intensity, run-wise, required for such an endeavor.

The reality is that I am just not getting there. At least not in the timetable I want.

A few things I have learned so far:
1) I run much, much better when my weekly swim mileage hovers around 8-10 miles a week. I had one of my best speed sessions EVER after a 5 hr swim.

2) It is VERY hard for me to stay uninjured over the course of a season when I run 3x a week. If it isn't the IT band, its the glutes, the achilles tendons, the hips or something else I haven't tried out yet.

3) I know I am not a runner and I am fine with that; I want to be able to finish the races I start and be able to train and toe the line at Ironman.

4) I can swim. Alot.

Right now, I am not even sure I can train for the half Ironman run - if I keep running the way I have been the past few months, I certainly can't.

Perhaps Ironman isn't in the cards for me; at least not now. However, I can swim for miles/hours with very little adverse effect. And if I spent more time on the bike, I think I could do the same.

So maybe my body is trying to tell me something - let go of Ironman, for now. There are many other ways to be an endurance athlete (right?) and swimming/riding long may have to be the attack plan from now on.

Time to rethink 2009....