I'm honestly not sure what got me through my post-Ironman phase. I don't have anything on the schedule between that and mid-August (next weekend), which is something like 8 weeks. The first few weeks I was okay, I could tell myself that everything was hard because my body was recovering. That argument works for a while, but the next couple of weeks I started to worry, even though I knew it would happen, if I would ever want to do it again. I'm just coming out of it now, and excited for the next race, even though it's short in comparison (different kind of challenge!).

I also felt like I was talking about it all the time, but that was relatively therapeutic, too. Might have been annoying for those closest to me, but I appreciate that they didn't just put up with the training, but the post-Ironman "training" as well. I read about feeling down after the race, so I did expect it, but it really felt... empty. I'm a pretty "go with the flow" person, suck it up, adapt, and move on, but there were a few days I was really down.

I don't have anything else scheduled this year, but I'm thinking of adding some stuff in September if I can find it fairly close - maybe that Federal Way race someone else pointed out in the PNW thread (that's the formerly-Subaru womens triathlon series, I think?).

I have been running the Seattle Marathon, which is after Thanksgiving, and actually keeps my "down time" to about a month - the month of December, basically, which is usually miserable and busy anyway. I do whatever I feel like doing and try to get back into it... in time to start early Ironman training for June. When I wasn't doing Ironman (this was my first, duh), I did feel that same feeling of lack of direction.

I've discussed with my husband (and 'wife') what crazy personality trait it must take to do Ironman... but maybe it's something more than that, that all endurance people, focused people, and people who just really enjoy what they do, have. A feeling of lack of focus that is almost disorienting when you're so used to being focused...