Honey and the sting
The week started, or continued in 3 days off, 72 hours not doing any sports, loosely translated:
Avishag is climbing up the walls
When the weeks become intensive, and it’s time for some rest, suddenly there is time for family, for studying and for work, which is great, but, it’s going to be big.
Have to remind everyone … Yes, and myself too, that after three days off time to return to the dream. The return to the water after 3 days of “fasting” from it is great fun and it’s become emotional longings.
Happiness is accompanied by a return to normal difficulty, again getting up at quarter to five in the morning and swim three or four hours straight, when the easy part of the training is with the team, when everyone “suffers” together, and the hard part is swimming alone (in Polish I’ll swim alone in the dark).
The satisfaction feeling is amazing when resting is translated to a higher level of ability, and thankfully this is happening at perfect timing to compete in leg in the semi Israman competition in the Red Sea in Eilat,
So what are these competitions?
Israman is a triathlon where you swim 3800 meters, bike ride 180 km and run 42.195 km, and semi Israman in accordance – 1900 meters swimming, 90 km bike ride and 21 km running.
Gladly we split this to a relay race, when each one of us did what were best at out of the three legs, and the day after the Israman was the first Red Sea Cup competition, open water competition in the Red Sea, distances – 1500, 5000 and -7500 meters.
I participate in the relay semi Israman as a swimmer, the runner is Oded Simon, bike rider Lior Einav. I swim 1900 meters, and the next day participate in the Red Sea Cup competition for the 7500 meters race.
Try to remind myself that the competitions are part of the loaded training program and also in my “easy” week, I swim approximately 20-25 km.
In the Israman is very exciting I’m not really able to sleep at night, and this is reflected in the water, I did not really exercise my abilities, but still swam fast enough to win with my tram mates the first place. (Yet the relative part of my Three-Point Shootout is the smallest, 28 minutes out of five hours and twelve minutes and most of the work is placed on the backs of my partners).
I pull myself together for the Red Sea Cup competition, talk with my coach Ori Sela that reminds me that we are the kind that warm up we only after 1900 meters, and a tip given to me by my professor, a sports psychologist, Daniel Wax to focus on what I have the power to change and free translation – me.
A long sleep, and I start the morning with the swim and finishing with a great result of 1:50:23 in seven and a half km of swimming. First prize in the 40-44 age category, and second place in the general women category.
Being with those people who have completed the entire Israman route, (there are some who this path takes them 17 hours) and survived for hours and hours of training in a group and hours and hours of training alone. Faced competitions on the way, yes some are part of the training program on the way. (Known to me for some reason) .I passionately read articles published on the “Shvoong” web site about the way of people compete the Israman, gathering information to strengthen, sympathize with the difficulties and successes, and draw motivation to continue.
A second point is the amazing meeting with friends from the sports industry, those who we had never met face to face yet, through those who encounter them in competitions, and those who I meet at the beach or swimming pool training. It’s great fun, the feeling that people take interests the way I gulp all this in, and understanding how important it is for me to be accompanied by as many of my friends throughout the race.
The sweet feeling of week 14 beginning.
