Once in a Blue Moon...

Blue moon  - calm and clear night down at Lake Ontario

I had my first DNS (did not start) this week. Once in a blue moon, indeed.

I was supposed to my second try-a-tri last Saturday. The night before, I had my bags all packed, bike in the car, coffee maker set up and the fixings for my favourite race morning breakfast on hand.

But when my alarm went off at 5am, I just couldn't get out of bed.

So, what happened?

I think it was a combination of overtired and underprepared.

We got back from our camping trip on the Thursday and spent Friday relaxing + unpacking and doing laundry. But I was still pretty worn out.

I was also very worried about the swim, which was going to be in Lake Ontario. We did a fair bit of open water swimming in Lake Huron during our camping trip, and I was quite rattled by how much wilder the water is in the Great Lakes than in the smaller lake where I did my first tri in July.

But I don't think it's fear that put me off this race, though that did contribute to it. It's more that I was having a hard time finding the will to push myself through the event. I was definitely lacking the mental toughness that I'd need to push myself through a difficult swim, and couldn't see how I'd be able to push myself through a bike and run as well. Particularly since I hadn't run in over two weeks.

Bottom line? I have to admit that there is no way that I wanted to finish DFL, but that was seeming pretty likely given my fatigue and my complete lack of drive.

So - the alarm went off and I stayed in bed.

And was pretty much at peace with it. Though I did keep a half-eye on the clock all morning, with thoughts of "people are picking up race kits now", "my wave is going out now" and so on.

Mind you, I was wearing my PJs and drinking coffee on my couch at the time. And was quite pleased to be relaxing rather than racing.

Here's something strange - a few days later, I came down with my first ever UTI (TMI? sorry...). Just as well that I didn't race, I suppose, as this would have been brewing at the time.

So it's been a rather quiet week. Went on a family hike and I got to the gym twice, but then spent a couple of days feeling super tired with a low fever and other unpleasantness. I'm just about back to normal now, just in time to gear up for back to school...and I need to get back to running before that 10K in three weeks.

On a non-fitness-related note - here's something that makes me wildly happy:

 

 

 

 

That's Stella and my sister-in-law's dog playing in a creek during a hike last weekend. The big news is that Stella is offleash here and SHE DIDN'T RUN AWAY. The Husky in her compels her to run vast distances at high speeds - which makes her an excellent running partner, but we've had a couple of incidents where she's jumped the fence at the local dog park and ignored our calls to come.

 

 

 

We've been working on this with her all year, and finally felt that we could take a chance on letting her offleash in an open area. She was so well behaved that we tried her again today (successfully) at a dog beach closer to home. She ran, she splashed around, she chased geese - and she came every time that she was called. Good girl!

Didn't get a picture of Stella's offleash adventures this evening, but did get one of my son exploring.
Was a beautiful late summer evening down by the lake.