Adjusting, not abandoning

I had some pretty high hopes for the Welland Triathlon this year. I had done this race back in 2010 on a borrowed set of race wheels and missed breaking an hour on the bike by 10 seconds, so I had planned to go back and smash the hour on those same wheels this year. It was all going to plan until my crap shack started falling apart early last week.

The tarp job to try to keep the rain out of our bedroom.

If I tarp the roof in my Belwood 2010 shirt, does it count as training?

Since then, training has gone to hell. I missed my first scheduled run in months, all workouts were cut to 30mins, I haven't been sleeping well and I haven't been on my bike at all this week. On top of the stress of my house falling apart, I've been having a tough time recovering from the 160k Tour de Grand last Sunday; legs have felt like crap, and even "easy" runs have been kicking my arse.

So empty, so sad..

The futon is fine for a night or two, but this is getting ridiculous.

Fortunately, we've managed to make some progress: the crew finally came yesterday morning and the main part of the roof is done! There's fresh drywall up in the bedroom, too, so I don't have to stare at that huge hole in the ceiling anymore. My legs even started to come back a bit last night; I had my first run this week where I didn't feel like someone had stuffed an anchor in my shorts!

It's a freakin' roof!

Imperforate!

All that remains on the exterior is the roof over the back walkout plus some final cleanup which (I'm told) should be completed today, along with the final mudding, sanding and painting of the bedroom ceiling. We'll be all set to receive the new bedroom set that was scheduled for delivery on Saturday!

One last minor detail.

Too bad Sears Home called on Wednesday to tell me that our furniture has been backordered, and we won't get it until at least the 20th. I swear that day was just one piece of bad news after another; one of those ones where you probably should have just rolled back into bed after the first 10mins. Except, you know, I don't have a bed. 

Now, I'm pretty sure with all of this going on that no-one would blame me if I quit training altogether. Every single session since all of this started has taken a monumental effort of will to commence, and precious little of it has actually been enjoyable. I could just as easily bow out of the race next Saturday, as it's unlikely I'll be getting decent, restful sleep until sometime in the middle of next week. However, that's not how I roll.

Also: I have continued to shrink! 8 weeks since last update, down another 4.5lbs. 

Instead of abandoning both hope and my goals, I'm making an adjustment. I might not post a blazing time on the bike at Welland, but I can race simply because I love it. Everything should be completely finalized by the time I toe the starting line, and I can't think of any better way to release all the stress and anguish of the last 2 weeks (plus the time next week until I finally have my bedroom back) than to sweat it all out on the course. I've reduced my training and cancelled the race wheels, but I'd only be cheating myself if I gave up on the chance to chuck all of this over my shoulder and go racing.

It may mean I only get 2 nights in my brand new bed before we abandon it in favour of our tent, but it'll be just the release I need after this ongoing debacle. Fast? Who cares? I'll be moving at the speed of fun!

I'd like to add a special note of thanks to Tanker for being his amazing, wonderful self through all of this. Despite going through the same frustrations, sleep deprivation and general inconvenience as I have, he has borne it all with good humour and provided endless oceans of love and support. You are my rock, sweetheart, and I would be utterly lost without you and your incredible ability to make me believe everything really will be all right.