And so Round Three begins!!! I'm offically back in base training. I am working on getting back some fitness that I lost from my much needed 1 1/2 Month of Recovery. While my body wasn't as wrecked as the first time, I still have had some knee issues for recovering. And since I knew that I was going to be getting right back in the swing of things. I 100% enjoyed my Recovery Time. Lots and lots of sleep, Eggnog Lattes, Movie times, Sleep. I got in a few runs, but my knee really wasn't letting me get in more than three miles (Booo). So I rested. In December I took a Kinesotape Course, which was helpful in that I can use it for my right knee for running, and supporting my IT Band. I was lucky enough to only gain about 6 lbs from all this over indulgence. And as much as I'll miss my Eggnog Lattes, I was secretly greatful they were gone. It's time to get back to work.
So, January begin with getting back in the pool and signed up for the YMCA. I have been working closely with my former Coaches from Team FC, and they are taking me on privatly to help me race with IM Boulder, so I'll have a coach again! Thank you Jillian!! Who is going to make a big focus on my bike, and taylor my training plan to me, with some race course added in. I'm SUPER EXCITED!!! I gained so much knowledge from having the minimal coaching for IM AZ, that I'm just super happy to keep with them for IM Boulder. I hope that I can be apart of IM Whistler for 15, and rejoin my AZ Team for a "reunion". I'm currently doing my 4 fit tests that are required for a baseline of fitness. Two Run tests, and One Bike (more on this later) and One Swim.
Other big additions planned for this years race...I got a Professional Bike Fit...3D. It was so frickin cool!! It took about 2.5 hours at Faster down in Scottsdale. The guy was awesome, and he really took the time to look at everything. And I mean everything. I think after the 5th time he asked, who adjusted this and I said...well I did. He just stopped asking. He tweaked pretty much every area of my bike. And after a flexibility test (I'm very flexible according to him), he got to work, changed out my seat height, angle of my seat, my aero bars, my stem of my handlebars, my shoes, insoles in my shoes. He was happy with the size of my bike, amazed I think that I already did two Ironmans on this bike. He did say that I would be better fit at a 52 for a tri bike. Good for future knowledge. And then we talked about Power Meters. Knowing that I have a desire to get a Tri bike one day, the Stages Power Meter was the best option in his opinion. But the sad part was that he was out in the size I needed. So he would have to order it. It could take up to a month (boo).
I could immediatly tell after that 2.5 hours that I felt so much better on my bike. I will still have to go back in 3 weeks for a re fit and more tweaking, but I can already tell, it's going to make biking so much easier. I tested it out today on my first trainer ride. I was scheduled for my bike fit test, since I thought I'd have my Power Meter. Since I didn't i hooked up my Garmin, and added a new program on the computer called Trainer Road. Which for 10$ a month can use your Garmin to simulate what your Power is. WOW!!! I am totally kicking myself for not getting on this band wagon for IMAZ. I did a 20 min fit test and could see and feel the results. It was awesome!!! And it was nice that I felt AWESOME on the bike from the fit. I still found a few areas with issues, my left knee (not right) felt a bet tweaky at the beginning, but then faded, I slide forward a few times in the seat on hard efforts ( probably more positional on my part) and my left elbow to hand went numb about half way through. With some adjustments it was better, but I'll still have to figure that out. I should be getting a call from Arron tomorrow for an ETA on the Power Meter. I'm hoping it's not the month long wait, fingers crossed. But until then, I'll survive with the Trainer Road Program. Can we say....Happy Early 40th Birthday to me??
Looking at my list for needs for Boulder--- I'm down to a Wet suit and Tri Bike. I'm sure I'll have to add some things here and there to my bike to make it better for Boulder. The recommendation for the next up grade on my bike would be tires, then aero bars for getting faster. I'm going to look into that.
I've also been looking at renting a house /studio while I'm there in June and in August, I found a house with a one bedroom studio rental, that I may just go for. It's right near downtown Pearl Street and if necessary I can bring the dogs, so if I can't find a dog sitter, then I'm good to bring them with me. And the owner is willing to lower the price if I stay a for a week each time. Need to look further into it to make sure it will work. But I think it's a go.
Other things I've been doing in Recovery/Off Season. I'm working on a 30 day Plank Challenge for Core work. I've of course gone well over 30 days, but I'm up to 3:30 minutes as of tonight with no drop, the last few times I've had to mix it up and add in side planks and pushup plank but I figure that just mixes it up better anyway. I've also been doing a 30 day Squat Challenge and single leg squats to increase the strength on my right knee. But I've been a bit more lax here. I also after a particularly
hard run at the Y, did my PRI exercises and decreased my knee pain by 50%.
Nutrition is my next plan of attack. I've been adding more Paleo meals back into my diet, while it's not 100%, I have been doing better. I just ordered a book from It Starts with Food who is joining forces with another person called Paleo Athlete and supported by them. I am looking forward to reading it to get my nutrition back on track. And I've drank exactly 3 Starbucks foo-foo coffees since my Eggnog has went away. It just doesn't taste good anymore (score one for me here! This is my weakness!!)
I've also been getting Kahlua in Obedience training classes so he can not pull when we walk, and I can get him back out running with me, since there has been some incidences in the area, and I should not be running by myself right now. The class is highly distracting which is exactly what I need for him.
Fit Testing: I've done two so far. The First of the Run was a 800 M all out, and a 1600 M all out. I was able to tape up my knee the way I learned in my course, and darn if i didnt run 6 miles (the longest since Ironman) with minimal knee pain. I got a 3:46 (7:34 pace) on the 800M, and for my 1600 M I got a 8:06 pace per mile. I was super excited and shocked a bit that I did so well. I was definitely feeling the burn the last 1/2 mile and really had to just focus on form. My best ever that I timed was a few years ago, and it was "hill aided" at 7:23. I am pretty happy with 8:06, and with a knee that I haven't been really able to run on.
Fit Testing for the Bike: I did it with Trainer Road. It was cool to watch the data online. I ended up with a HR avg of 164. the Power at 140, and the bike cadence at 92. Nice. I probably could of gone more, I wasn't sure what to expect, and I started in the low 130s for power, but the last five minutes I was able to get it up in the 150s-180s. So I'm thinking I could of gone harder, even though I felt pretty spent.
I have two more Fit Tests, a Swim of 200 and 800 M and the last run tests where I run 4 x1600 M at a 5 K pace with 1:30 min rest. We shall see how those go this week!!!
Super excited for what this number three Ironman holds for me, I'm doing two within a 9 month period, I'm looking forward to getting fitter then I was for AZ IM with the continued training. What even cooler, is...I'm a Two Time Ironman Finisher. Yes, it deserves Caps. And let me tell you..Three Time Ironman Finisher sounds pretty cool too!! This time around, I'm doing this race for me, I'm motivated to do good for me, and b/c its a new course. I am signed up to do Ironman Boulder 70.3 in June, to scoop out the race course, then IM Boulder for Aug. It's going to be a good year.... I can feel it!!
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