going through the same thing....i trained hard for boston marathon.....and after the race it all seemed
very anti-climactic. i like to keep myself registered for events though out the year, but at present training
is a chore, my legs are like cement, cycling is an effort...any little incline is torture....swimming, well we won't
go there and every time i go for a run my plantars acts up!!!
so, ...even though i haven't voiced this out loud yet....i am withdrawing from the 1/2 im in july and
am just going to take the rest of the year off to recharge and regroup..only go out on my bike for fun and only do
fun runs. i want to do an im next year and want to be tip top.
as for you....can you take time off and regroup....change your focus for cda? with drawing from an im is alot harder than
a 1/2....
be good to yourself and you will know what to do.
good luck!!!

This happens to me and I have to be careful about planning small races around my big ones. One year I did an Oly race as a tune up for a HIM and lost most motivation to train after the Oly.

I would say be very flexible with your schedule and do what you want. This way, it does not seem so much like a chore to get your workouts in. Do what you feel like doing - makes it a little more fun.

Sorry I don't have a better answer than that, I still haven't quite solved it except to say I stopped planning training races within 6 weeks of my key race (unless the training race is a really fun sprint).

This has happened to me more than once. The build up to the race is so exciting, you have a great time, then it's over. I'm experiencing the same phenomenon this week. What works for me is planning a long, fun ride with my favorite girlfriend. We talk about everything under the sun, ride a few hard intervals, then talk more all the way home. After a week or so, I'm ready to focus on the next goal. You'll feel better soon.

I'm not a coach and I'm a BOP'er so read this with that in mind:

If I were you, I would take a look at my training schedule and find 2 or 3 workouts during the week that I absolutely do not want to miss. Then, skip all other workouts except those. Normally, I would tell you to stop training completely for a week or so, but with CDA looming, you might not want to do that. Instead, find those key workouts and make sure you do them. Don't do any others - even if you feel like it at the time. This is important. Don't plan to do those workouts even if you feel like it. It's more important for you to get in those key workouts and take a break from everything else. Your head needs time to recover as well as your body. The key workouts will keep you in the game and make you feel like you're still working towards your goal. The days off and the other workouts missed will help you recover both physically and mentally.

By the way, you have likely done enough training by now that you could finish CDA without any problems. From this point forward, it's just a matter of putting the icing on the cake.

I got in the lake this morning for a whole 30 minutes and it was good. Tomorrow morning same thing and I have a small sprint on Saturday that should get me psyched for racing again. Sunday is the last big ride and I just have to muscle my way through it. I roped someone in to coming with me so that should help.

Thanks everyone. It is a tough time during IM training. Happens to me every year but this year I had a group of wonderful people to gripe to :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I am getting to this late, but 100% would agree with what Dawn said to do.

It is Ok to skip the sprint too, if you need more emotional rest.

It's funny that you should post this because I was going to post something very similar today. I'm having the exact same issue and looking at my training log, I had just noticed the pattern of being after the Womens training camp and then now after a big training block. I'm also prone to depression and this feels very similar. I'm using some upcoming races to motivate myself and cutting myself some slack if I miss a few workouts here and there, but it's really tough.

Just so you know you're not alone!

M

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The beatings will continue until morale improves