The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

I lost the plot, big time. It's odd really. After the marathon, I thought I'd done really well in avoiding post race blues. I felt fabulous for a week afterwards, really pleased with how it had gone and basking in the glow of the personal achievement. I did some recovery stuff and felt that things were going really well. Then the wheels fell off. I've had a fairly dreadful few weeks. I've felt really down and not been able to put my finger on why, I've not really been training - partly because I couldn't get myself out of the door and partly because I've been ill (a throat infection followed by a migraine - argh). I've eaten badly, put on a little bit of weight and generally just felt ugh. I knew I had triathlons to train for, including the one and only Olympic distance of the year in August, but I just couldn't motivate myself to get on with it.

I realised that I needed focus. I had always hoped that if my marathon went well it would suggest that I might be up to training for a half ironman triathlon, so I trawled Amazon, ordered some books and have been avidly reading. I've not been put off, in fact, I'm glad I thought about it now as the books appear to be suggesting about a year's run up. The race I fancy is trying is in about 2 weeks (I'm going to do the sprint this year), so that should allow me about a year to aim for the half. All of a sudden I feel there's a reason to be out there again. I ran, badly, on Saturday - only 3 miles. Then, yesterday I went out for an hour and 20 minutes on my tri bike, a bit of a shocker due to my complete lack of bike time this year, but I enjoyed being out there on such a beautiful morning. Today, I've run 4 miles. Not brilliantly well, but I did it and was happy enough to head out and do it, that's the important bit really. So, hopefully back on track. Train, feel better physically and mentally - sounds good to me!