My birthday week was one of my most successful training weeks yet! I made it to all of my workouts with exception of taking Wednesday night off. I was incredibly exhausted from training and found that I had actually trained 10 days in a row, so taking an evening off didn’t kill a streak or anything. I ended up making up the sessions on another day anyways, so all in all I got most of my time in this week. I decided that it was time to buckle down and be more diligent with my hours, and so it became that way. All in all it was an incredibly successful week!
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The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
It was a challenging week, getting in all of the hours and doing everything on schedule. After last week’s disappointing hours/mileage, I tried to stick to my guns as much as possible. The distance still feels overwhelming, especially on the bike portion. I’m looking in to a few upgrades this week and next for my bike that will hopefully increase my time and mileage on it. I also plan on getting to spin classes since my boyfriend is headed back home for a bit. I will need to fill my time with lots and lots of cycling, and I’m not sure if it is productive for me to be in my bike since I’m finding it really hard to reach certain levels of speed and resistance on it. Spin should be good, and I can use it as an opportunity to try some clip-in shoes or something…maybe even break in new jerseys and shorts.
There’s still something very daunting about a 140.6 mile race. What was I thinking? The two marathons I have under my belt weren’t even impressive in terms of time. 112 mile bike ride? I think my longest to date is 43.7 miles. Eek! That’s barely a third of the distance!
What I know about the swim start for Louisville is that the cutoffs don’t start until the last age grouper enters the water. I want to be the first person in the water so I can have some extra time to finish–no joke! I might just consider sleeping out on the docks the night before to ensure it! Regardless, the cutoff time is 2 hours 2 minutes after the last person gets into the water…and then there are bike cutoffs on each of the two loops (2:30pm at mile 60 and 6:20 at mile 112). Then there is a cutoff for the run loop at 9:45pm with a finish line cutoff at 12:00 midnight.
At least knowing there is a TIME cutoff (and not quite a duration cutoff) makes it a little easier on me. I will have to hustle the entire day but I think that with adequate training I should be able to….Fingers crossed! I need to get out on the bike trails a bit more for some real-world training, get hustling on my 13-26 mile runs (okay, maybe not the full 26 miles but at least get over the half mary hump) and get more efficient in the water. It will be challenging, but I think I can definitely make this work.
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If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.
Week 2 Ironman Louisville training:
15 hours training; Swim: 4696 yards; Bike: 62 miles; Run: 10.31 miles; Strength training 1 hour 30 minutes; 90-minute hike.
Monday March 4: 38-minute/5K run mid-day during lunch, 50-minute swim in the evening.
Tuesday, March 5: 1-hour morning strength training session, followed by a 1 hour 15 minute bike ride on the trainer afterwards at home. 45-minute/4.06 mile run mid-day at work.
Wednesday, March 6: Rest day! Super exhausted and sore from the day before. I think at some point this evening I started weeping because of how tired I felt. Headed to bed early.
Thursday, March 7: Got up super early for my birthday tri! Got to the pool by 5:15 and swam for 1 hour 30 minutes/1.2 miles. Then ran on the treadmill for 42 minutes/3.11 miles. Headed home (free parking ran out!) and biked for 13 miles/1 hour to round out a sprint-ish triathlon for my birthday. Felt great afterwards and barely even tired! (Maybe I didn’t try hard enough?)
Friday, March 8: Group training in the morning for 45-minutes, followed by an hour and 15 minutes in the pool. (Negligible mileage!)
Saturday, March 9: I totally spaced on my 1:1 with my coach. In its place I woke up early for a 1 hour 15 minutes on the bike (14 miles) and a 50 minute/4.1 mile run.
Sunday, March 10: Almost 2 hours on the bike (21 miles only!) followed by a short 2 mile or so snow hike in Snoqualmie Pass.
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Taking a mini snow hike in Snoqualmie Pass
Things to do this coming week:
1) Figure out some spin classes I can attend at my local 24.
2) Order some cycling shoes, new bike shorts, jerseys, and pedals.
3) Find time on my calendar for bikram yoga. I’d like to go once a week or so to get used to heat again.
4) Email that woman I met a few weeks ago about biking together around Mercer Island and Burke Gilman.