Fun Scale

I have a scale to rate the different types of fun in my life. Type 1 fun is when you are enjoying the fun in real time. Type 2 fun you don't actually enjoy until it is over. Type 3 fun takes months or years of reflection, and only then do you recall it as fun. I flew into Kona on Wednesday and ran 8.5 miles, and followed it up with a swim at Kona masters. Both activities were type 1 fun, I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I was running and swimming. The following day, I biked the South Loop with the Kona group and once again, it was type 1 fun, even the hammerfests up the hills. Friday was an early masters swim workout and I was tired, relegating the fun to more of a type 2. However, there were definitely moments of type 1 fun during the swim. I ran 9.5 miles in the afternoon and once again, it was a mixture of type 1/2 fun. The plan called for a hundo ride on Saturday, and my body was feeling both the heat and the previous two days of training. I did not want to ride hard at all, and I just wanted to get time in the saddle. My plan was to start with Kaitlin and the Kona crew at a social pace and then break off and do my long ride. I flatted and my friend Jano waited for me, telling me that he would be my domestique to pull me back to the group, what a nice gesture I thought. The nice gesture, however, was lost when I was swearing at Jano in my head as we basically time-trialed 25 miles to get back to the group. This was not how I wanted to start my 100-miler. Thoughts of changing the plan and just cutting the ride short crossed my mind. But type-A/OCD triathlete reared his ugly head and next thing I knew, I'm rolling toward Hawi and doing my 100-miler. The last 20 miles were rough, not bad enough to be type 3 fun, but definitely type 2, and I couldn't wait to be done. Today's 50 mile ride and 10 mile run off the bike was definitely type 2 fun. I just wanted to be done with the training, and once done, I knew I would be happy (and think it was fun) because I finished another solid block of training.

Unlike my prep for IM CDA, I made a goal to never hit type 3 fun in my IM Canada training. If I think it's going to be a type 3 fun day, I'll take the day off. Tomorrow is a rest day, just an ocean swim and some canoe paddling with my friend Jason, both very much type 1 fun. And then on Tuesday, Michelle flies in for what she promises to be three epic days of training, and knowing Michelle, she's gonna be pushing my type 3 fun limits.