Four weeks of 12-to-14-hour days had about emptied me out.
Work was going well. There were excellent things coming. I was spending a lot of time with outside investors, selling, pitching, talking, and staying switched on all day.
That part did not come naturally to me.
I am pretty introverted. A constant state of energy and conversation is exhausting, even when the meetings are productive and the outcome is good. I let the work become all-consuming and failed to send my coach a basic note saying we should talk again in a week.
Instead, I pushed myself close to a meltdown.
This is one of the stranger combinations from that period. Work was taking everything. My lower back and upper glute were so strained that riding a bike was barely comfortable. I was in physical therapy and trying to get that under control.
At the same time, I was running some of the best times of my life.
My torn soleus and Achilles problems had healed. I ran the Brooklyn Half in 1:20:44, just under the time standard for the 2019 New York City Marathon. Three weeks later I ran 17:45 for an open-road 5K personal best on a hard course.
The workouts were still happening. That was the good news I sent my coach.
The bad news was that the bike hurt, the work month had taken me to the edge, and I had handled the communication badly. A few good race results did not cancel any of that.
I changed the plan. While physical therapy worked on the bike problem, I would concentrate on running and hope to get back to cycling in a week or two. I set two goals: break 17 minutes in the 5K in the fall and run under 2:45 at the Chicago Marathon.
They were big goals. I was also finally home for the weekend and trying to relax.
That was the whole update. Excellent work news. Near meltdown. An injured back. Two personal bests. Physical therapy. More ambitious targets.
I was home for the weekend. I needed to stop talking for a minute.