Bit of a Dilema

So here the situation I find myself in.

 I have hardly run, swam or biked since November. This is due to a couple of reasons, one being an injury to my quad that makes running or cycling painful but it seems to be on the mend. Two, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer just before christmas which you can imagine put our world upside. This also means I need to spend time caring for her and the children so meaning less time to train work and do the caring.She has had the surgery andshe is about to start the chemo part of the recovery, so a little less Caring  to do as its over a longish period and she has great family support.

 Now its nearly March giving me 4 months to train for OutLaws or 6 months to train for Henley, I notice there are still places availiable.

 My intial thought was to hell with it I'll give my Out Law place up recoup so of the money but then my wife asked me whyI was not doing any trainning as she would really like me to do the Out Laws/Henley this years as she knows it means so much to me.

So the sensible thing I suppose would be to do Henley as it gives me more time but after helping out at Out Law I would realy like to do that one.

I think 4 months of fairly intensive (well for me ) training would see me round but would that not be advisable.

What do you guys think

frankly TG - I'd give both a miss and pick up on either of them next year

yes, you can get around with minimum training but do you really want to just "get around"?  getting a solid training period makes the whole event a much better experience than doing it on minimum training.  and given the injury you've had, there's no guarantee you can get minimal training in.  get the injury fixed first

and psychologically, you have a lot going on personally and imho, your family still comes first - the races will be there in the future.

that's my twopennorth worth

I'm with FB, spend the time with thr family, get all strong then come back stronger in 2013.  You'll miss it this year, but hey ho, liefe gets in the way, and other things are more important than Tri.

Or do a half? Or do one bit as part of a relay team?

Hmm probably not outLaw this year as FB says just getting round would be unsatifatory.  So my options, as I see it, are either start training and go for Henley full distance, but with the unknown amount of caring I will need to do this may also turn out as not fully commited experience.  So the third more relistic option is do the HiM at Henley. I think that that would be do able even if the training is a bit patchy.

I thought you were going to say you had to choose between a visit to/from your INlaws, and doing Henley!

Wilkie wrote (see)

I thought you were going to say you had to choose between a visit to/from your INlaws, and doing Henley!

Well I do actually call the inlaws the outlaws so I can see the confusion there.

I'm with FB. 

The commitment to IM training is a lot and could just make everything more stressful.

I think doing a HIM is a good idea, it will give you some focus and get you out of the door to do some training but it should be manageable around your home commitments,

I'm with the other guys too, you dont know how the treatment is going to affect the rest of family and my guess is it will be quite stressful at a time when you would like to be giving attention to training .. doing the half IM sounds like the right balance of training and home life
If you are missing the Pirate massive then volunteer at Outlaw and come do the feed station

M...eldy wrote (see)

If you are missing the Pirate massive then volunteer at Outlaw and come do the feed station

I echo that - I helped last year and found it thoroughly inspiring and enjoyable 

Hi TG. I signed up for Giants Head Marathon before Christmas and my training was going really well, I did a couple of 20+ mile runs and the hilly runs where about 15 miles. I was feeling really fit and strong having also ran a hm pb.

D still wants me to train for GH, I just feel that I can't commit but I'm half heartedly going out there to train. In the back of my head I know that the timming is wrong I also know that D wants me to do the race and he wants to watch and support and meet everyone so I'm going to train to give him something else to look forward to.

I'm saying this because I know D doesn't want me to stop doing what I want just because of him. Me training helps him and I think it might be similar for your wife. Wanting things to be 'normal' not wanting you to give up for her.

Because something means a lot to me it also means a lot to D. So I will train and I will run, under prepared or not. Yes the race will be there next year but D won't be. I know I'm offering advice that contradicts what everyone else is saying but D said the hardest thing for him was hurting the peole that meant the most to him. So if we can, we will be there. There's plenty of time for pain afterward.

I think that D wants me to carry on as normal as that doesn't rub his nose in it, maybe your wife feels the same. That by you training and carrying on as normal you are helping her believe that everything is ok.

I grew up with a mother ho had breast cancer, there never was a next year.