This is my Journey into my Return to Ironman- 2018. It's my journal/documentation of the ups and downs of what it takes to be an age-group athlete training for an Ironman triathlon. This is more of a way for me to remember what I am doing over the course of the training season. As any Ironman Athlete can tell you, sometimes the days can blur into one training day of swim, bike, run after another. So, while some may not find this at all interesting, those that wonder...could I do an Ironman? Do I have what it takes to do an Ironman? I give you a peek into my journey and days to complete my next Ironman at Madison, Wisconsin on Sept. 9th, 2018. Forgive any misspelled words/awkward sounding sentences. I'm pretty sure I'll be be happy just to get them down on the blog. Consider it a test of your mental skills to figure out what I'm saying. I hope you enjoy reading my journey.
Overall Training Totals:
Swim 7900 yds 3:44 hr/min
Bike ?? Miles 5:44 hr/min
Run 17 Miles 3:34 hr/min
Other/ hr/min
Strength
Overall Training Time: 13:02 hr/min
Week Two:
I’m really starting to like the AM workouts. It’s hard to believe it, but I do. I love knowing I have the evening free to go walk the dogs on the beach or cook a Whole30 meal. Or just relax and do other things besides training. Which is part of my plan for this year. To make sure I don’t become obsessed on Ironman training only. Which is why I’m excited to go whale watching on the 24th of February. I have been doing really well so far with finishing up the last few days of my Whole 30, officially done on Wednesday!! I feel like this has totally made it easy for me to get in the first two weeks with no major issues going from zero to 7 hours in one week of training. This week is short because I will be driving down to Prescott on Thur/Friday to get my bike on Saturday, to the bike shop for a tune up, a visit with the girls, then turn and burn for a 15 hour drive back to Fort Bragg on Sunday. Whew! I'm tired just writing about it!
SWIMS:
My swims this week felt SLOOOOOOOOW. I’m really aware of how taking a year off is kind of depressing with my swim times. I couldn’t get all my distance in the coach wanted. My arms continue to feel like Jell-O and I just keep getting freaked out with not wanting to swim without the pull buoy. A crutch that I’ve always had due to my low back becoming aggravated when I attempt to kick too much. So, I don’t even try to go without it unless it’s a short set of 25s or 50s. My rational is that if I do crappy form, then it will impact me further. So I try to focus on no buoy when I can keep better form.
Wednesday I woke up super early to watch the Super Blue Blood Moon, And I must say , it was pretty awesome to sit on my front door step, and look up to take pictures at 4:30 AM, then go of f to do my swim, and then take more pictures of the final lunar eclipse. I may have cut my swim short by a few 100 yrds. It was a pretty worth it experience to see.
Bike:
Both my spin classes were good, I definitely love my Monday class so much better then the Wednesday class. Both instructors are nice, but the Monday one kicks my butt, while Wednesday is a bit lower key. I will be doing most of my biking on my trainer from here on out. While I love the class, my OCD doesn’t let me track my bike miles, so I hate leaving that blank.
Runs:
I keep having tweaky left knee issues. I got a lift to put in my left shoe to see if that would help. One day it does, the next it doesn’t. Seems like every time I hit the 2 mile mark, it kicks in. But it appears that my times are slowly improving. And I'm back wearing my compression hose at work.
Thursday AM, I got in my run, and PM I was on the road driving to Las Banos for my first pit stop. The dogs while better, weren’t super excited to be in the car. Kahlua did better, but still had some issues. I rolled into the hotel after 10 pm. But at least I didn’t have to do a full 15 hour drive to Prescott.
Friday- I woke later than planned, was on the road and made it to Prescott around 6:30 ish. I ended up hitting up a few places on my list, Target, Ross, Home Depot. I had very limited time, Only Saturday and I was on my way back. Got to the rental around 8 pm. Long hot shower and relax and bed.
Saturday I woke up one hour late, but I got to the storage unit, traded out some things I needed, went and got my bike, and headed to the bike shop and dropped off my baby. Back to the rental briefly, and then off to get all the rest of the items on my list completed. By the time I was done, it was after 2PM, I still needed to run to Target, get a coffee (of course), picked up my bike. Then I was home and relaxed until some of the girls arrived, and we all had a wonderful time talking and catching up on life with some amazing pizza, wine and bread pudding for Nicole’s Birthday I would miss on Saturday! Missed quite a few of the ladies as they all were feeling under the weather and some I missed and didn’t’ get the chance to invite. After they left, I packed everything back up, and was ready to bust out in the early am.
Sunday I woke later than planned, but was on the road by 8 AM. The only good thing was that I would have a time change back one hour when I crossed into California. So this helped me to decide to just go for it and to drive all the way home to Fort Bragg if I could tolerate it. I made it to my point of no return, felt good and went for the last 4 ½ hours to get home. I was fine except for when I tried to go around San Fran, my phone took me on a wild goose chase through the country side of San Francisco. Yes, there is a country side. It was a bit crazy how many turns and twists I took. Almost made me wish I just drove through the city. Okay maybe not, that city is to crazy to drive it for me. Once I was on 101, it was smooth sailing on home. The dogs were done in the car and so was I. I managed to roll into Fort Bragg at about 11:30 PM, unloaded the car, took a hot shower, and passed out on the bed.
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