Distance. Time
SWIM 118,002 50:03
BIKE 1228.83 96:37
RUN 290.66 55:28
___________________________________
Overall 202.08
Racing Ironmans for me is about: feeling alive, feeling blessed that God has given me a body to do this type of exercise. It's about the endorphins, and feeling happy, it's about the challenge of being able to do this race in honor of others, when many cannot. It's about having FUN!! Living in the moment! Meeting amazing new people and making new friends. Pushing my body to places that I don't think it can go, and then, push a little further. I don't really care where I place in the mix of things, I just want to finish! That feeling is the same, weither you are first or last, it's about crossing the finishline. Time is just a number, it's really about the journey, the finish is the icing on the cake.
This race in Boulder....I'm definatly nervous. It's new ground for me. I do have some knowledge of the course. I've swam in the lake, got a PR for the swim in the Half this past June. But at the time, I thought I was swimming poorly. I let myself not relax and just have fun. I have some fear that it's going to not be a wetsuit legal swim and that makes me nervous. But I also realize that I can still wear a wetsuit if it's over 76.1 degrees. I m just not eligilbe for awards..LOL like that's an issue. So, I'm taking the pressure off. I'm not going to worry about it. Historically, the 1/2 in Aug has always been wetsuit legal. So I'm going on faith that it will be this time too.
The bike. I keep reading about people riding the course, they say to be ready for hills. "Rollers" in Boulder standerds. The back half between mile 67-87? it's a long slow 20 mile false flat. Then, hills kick back in the last 10 miles. But really they say, it's the wind that will get you on the back half. So, I don't expect a fast bike ride. In fact, I expect it to be a good 30 min or so longer. My goal of course is to just finish in the time allowed.
The run: It's all on pavement. My knees already are hurting thinking about this. But that's also what I've been training on. I normally hit up my trail thats all dirt for the run,but I've been sticking to my neighbourhood which is all pavement and sidewalk. Speaking of my knee, it's starting to give me more trouble again. The last few weeks, well if I'm honest, it's been since Whiskey Row 1/2 in May, it's been tweaky on and off over training. And then, my bike which has been good, now it's tweaky there. I've made a few adjustments, and my fitter has as well, and my training with my coach too. But its just sitting their nagging at me. One of my goals for this race is to not let what happen the last two Ironmans where my knee just goes to shit at mile ten of the run. My AZ IM 13 race, it actually went numb by mile 18 and gave out by mile 22 forcing me to walk the last four miles. The fear of having to stop doing Ironmans because my body just can't handle it, sits silently and festers in the back of my mind. Maybe it's time to let me focus on 70.3's which doesn't beat up my body as much. But my heart just says, stop....lets not go there just yet.
I'm not sure why I have more fear of this race then the last two. Well, wait, yes I do, for all the reasons listed above. I need Dr. Jekyell to help keep Mr. Hyde and all his negativity at bay. I need to find that solution to help me push through the rough patches. It funny, this isn't my first Ironman, but It feels like it is at times. I am always learning something new about myself with these races. And that's really what it's all about in the end, right? Learning what you can overcome? Learning what you are capable of?Learning not to give up when things get tough? Having faith in your training plan, and knowing that a few setbacks are not going to make or break your race? Learning how to do it all on your own? Without the help of a support crew? Learning how to push through that Ironman Fatigue, when all you want to do is sleep. I just need to Let is be. Focus on what I can control. What is within my ability to control, and the rest will come.
On to training week.
Monday ----I did a mock open water swim in the pool as if it was non wetsuit legal. Just get in the water and swim. I managed 3550 yds in 1:20 min. I was pleasantly surprised with that. I also know that i didn't have a long bike ride the day before that fatigues me. I missed it. So I think this is because I had some energy in the tank from sleeping all day on Sunday. A good start to the week.
Tuesday-- I got home only to enjoy a two hour unexpected nap, then got my butt on the trainer around 7 ish. I got in an hour on the bike with a consistant pace. Nothing exciting here,but glad I was done.
Wednesday-- I was feeling the fatigue, and the pain, my back, my right shoulder blade, everything was hurting. I made to to the Y for my swim, and I just focused on getting the swim in, had to use the pull buoy cause I was just tired. Once done, I got on the treadmill cause of time. and I managed to get in my first two of three intervals. But my knee was feeling a bit tweaky, I went ahead and taped it to be safe. But by the third interval. I literally bonked, and bonked hard. Like full on....BONK. I had to walk. everytime I attempted to run, even at a slow pace, my body just shut down. What the hell is going on? Mr. Hyde? Why are you doing this to me now? It's been my constant companion of late. Bonking during my workouts. I decided it was nutrition. I was determined to finish my time, even if it meant walking. I'd do it at the race right? So I walked, the last 35 min of my workout, I walked, but I did it. and I got it done. GRRRRR grabbed my gear and headed home. I stopped off and got food because I knew I was not going to cook.I almost fell asleep in the drive thru line. Luckly the car in front of me had loud motor and I heard it move. But I managed only to eat half of my meal on the way home. So I worked out for at least 3 hours with 1000 cal burned, and barely got that replenished. I got home and did a hot shower, and barely made it to bed. I sent out a plea to my massage therapist to see if she had any openings.
Thursday--- Blessed day off. the only thing I could think of was coming home from work and sleeping the night away. But i got a response from my massage therapist, and i was off to get a massage at 4 pm. Whew. I needed it. I was so sore,my back my hamstrings, my shoudler. she worked hard on all of the areas I was hurting. And I hurt when I was done, but a good hurt. I made it home made a good dinner, and then to bed.
Friday--I woke sore, but not as sore as i have been. I got into work and got through the day. Once home I got my bike in. I started noticing that my knee was getting uncomfortable on the bike again. I adjusted my seat a hair. It seemed okay. I really feel like my right side is constantly "tight" like it's on the verge of cramping in the calf. ANd the hamstrings are always always tight. I have gotton on the foam rolller, but it never feels anything with the hams, more the quads and IT Band. After my bike, I headed out for my 30 min run, which at the easy pace, I felt fine, my back didn't hurt, my knee didn't hurt. I felt like I could run that pace for a while. Once home, I got my recover drink on board, I got in a long hot soak in the tub with epson salts and essential oils. Dinner, Avengers movie, bed. Happy that I could sleep in tomorrow.
Saturday--- I woke today feeling so tired and sore. I slept in until 9:30 AM. WHEW!! I had a plan to go run at noon for my two hour run, so I could enjoy the morning relaxing, breakfast, and then get out in the heat for training. Well I got in breakfast around 10 ish, then fell asleep on the couch, til noon, then I decided I'd go run at one, slept until 2 pm, then decided I'd go at 3, slept til 4 PM. So my day was sleeping...all day. My back was what felt sore the most. I felt "strong" but "weak" like I had no energy to go run. But finally I got my butt up off the couch and got out on my run around 5 ish. And it was everything I could do to just say at a 10:00- 10:30 pace. I felt that "strong" but yet, weak and couldn't get my body to move. It's hard to describe the feeling. I do realize that it was still in the 90s when I started to run, and I don't do good in the heat over 85 degrees, so I'm happy that I was able t manage 3 x 10 min sets at a 10 ish pace. My planwas for 2:20 hr/min. But I only managed 1:28 with the heat, my body tired. I thought it would be my knee that would bother me to night, but it was my lower back, that tightened up on me. ALOT, I opted to follow my coaches advice to lessen the intervals/intensity and cut workout short if i needed to. And with thoughts of how last weekend went where I missed my entire bike ride due to sore from the run. I stopped my workout early.I was a bit bummed, but Mr. Hyde had reared it's ugly head again. I really wanted to meet all my workout goals this week, but I know that my bike tomorrow is more important and I cannot miss that one two weeks in a row. Hydrate, eat clean and rest. This is the rest of my night. oh, and order new shoes.
Sunday- Woke today, dreading this long 6 hour ride. Mainly because I was certain Mr. Hyde would make an appearence. I got a late start, the plan was out the door at 6 am. It was more like 7:30 AM. But that's okay, because I just have to ride more in the heat, which is really what I need for Boulder. I surprisingly felt good. Must of been those 3 - 2 hour naps yesterday. My back didn't hurt, my legs were sore but once I stretched them out on the bike, they started to feel better. It got hot quick! And with the humidity, I had a bit of a stuggle with breathing but nothing to bad. So I focused on 90 rpm. I had to do 3 X 15 and 3 X 30 in my low zone 4. For some reason I just couldn't get myself in the zone to stay there consistantly. My biggest issue with power, I either have cadence right or I have power right, and if I have power right then my cadence is in the 70-80s zone. So after talking with my coach, it was recommended to focus on cadnence if i couldn't stay in power zone. SO that's what I did. I focused on cadence. I never looked at my power in the end, I don't even know what my average was. So be it. I did however find that when I focused more on the cadence between 85-90, I felt....good. My legs were tired but not to tired after a hill climb. I climbed the "big" hill twice and amazingly, I didn't get any back pain. I think I figured out what I was doing. I was so focused on my cadence or my power, that I'd crank on the gears and use my back, not my legs to power up the hill. So when I felt myself doing that, I'd focus on switching my push to my quads..and low and behold, no back pain. How silly that something so simple escaped me. So along with this, because I was not using back muscules to power up the hill...hmmm my knee didn't bug me. Not once!!! Whew!!! I did manage to run through all three of my water bottles Twice!!! It was in the 90s on my ride. So I made a pit stop every two hourss at my now favorite gas station, where the attendent said to me, " Oh hey! You did say you would be back next week didn't you?!!" I told him to expect me for the next few weekends. And of course i did say hello when I came back for a second time. Nutrition. I had it today!! I had my stash bars every 30 min, my water/OSMO every 15 in between or more if needed. I took a salt tablet every 1 1/2 hour and had success, so three on my total for 6 hours. I managed to cruise into home just before the storm hit. and got the last 8 minutes on my trainer, where the stupid garmin decided to download so I had to have to seperate downloads for the bike. Then I checked in on my Team racing in Vietnam 70.3. Then I headed out for my easy 30 min run, which again, no back pain, and no knee pain. Wheewwwww!!!! While I wish I had more miles then 83 on the bike...that was a huge boost and good training ride for me. I made a point to hit up some false flats at miles 60-80 somewhere so I could simulate how it will be for race day. I also noticed that I had over 3000 feet of elevation gain total. That's nice, considering that's close to what Boulder elevation change will be. Overall, the day had a few head winds and side winds mixed in with 90 degree temps, it was cooking in some parts on the road, but clouds would also roll in and cool me off for a bit. This made for a perfect training day for Boulder. I also tested out my new arm coolers. and I must say, they may look funny, but once those babies are wet...It feels NICE!!!! I did not however like them when they were dry, and it felt like I was starting to get to hot. Thank you Dr. Jekyell for keeping Mr. Hyde away. I needed a good day on the bike. Ice bath and recovery drink completed after the run, along with a hot shower and compression recovery tights on. I also enjoyed a pizza and a beer for dinner in a far away cheers to my FC Teammates who rocked their races. And when I say pizza, I mean pizza. I burned over 2000 calories. The pizza only covered about 1300 calories. Yes, I'm still eating. :)
Best thing about the next three weeks?? TAPER BABY!!! TAPER IS HERE!!! Three Weeks to Race Day!!!
Resilient People Look
At The Problem and Say,
"What's The Solution?
What's This Trying To
Teach Me?
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