Disclaimer: This
blog is a documentation of my now second Ironman Journey for AZ Ironman 2013.
I’m doing this race for a former patient, Sunny, who just recently passed away
from a brain tumor. I hope that I can honor her well as I take her on my
journey. Format will be random, i.e. quick journal format, random
thoughts, motivational quotes, pictures of random moments and memories along my
journey. For the most part, it’s documentation for me and may not be to
exciting for anyone else to read, but for those of you brave enough to ever
wonder…could I do an Ironman or even just a triathlon? I then offer you a
firsthand account of what goes on in the mind of an Ironman age group
triathlete including all the highs, lows, emotions, fears, rants, etc, etc.
Please forgive any spelling mistakes as I’m sure I am just happy to get
everything written down, just chalk it up to fatigue from lots of
training!
Current Stats Overall:
SWIM: ~150,262
Yds
BIKE: ~ 995.38
Miles
RUN: ~ 307.15
Miles
Strength: ~ 23:55 hr/min
Other
~ 10:51 hr/min (PT, Stretch, etc. )
Total Training Hours: 238:16
hours/minutes
Week Eight begins with a Swim at the Y on Monday Night. What
wasn’t planned was after I busted out of work a bit early to beat the rain and
get to the Y, I got in my 1800 yds for
my Short and Fast Workout. I drove home
through “a Lake” in Downtown Prescott in
the middle of a nasty rainstorm. On the
way home, I stopped at New Frontiers to get an eye dropper for my left ear with
the hopes of getting my ear dried out
more and not being so deaf all the time. I’m now washing out my ear three tx a
week so I can hear, it’s just dandy. And a little unsettling when I can’t hear
the Mack Truck next to me while I’m riding, Scary actually. I am hoping that
it’s slowly getting a bit better…if not, off to yet another doctor. Seriously,
I’ve had enough health issues right now, and another doctor is just about my
limit. Praying that my appointment in two weeks comes back with a clean bill of
health, otherwise some big changes are probably in store for me. But I’m not
going to think negative until I have to. And even then, negative thinking isn’t
going to get me anywhere. I can only hope God’s plan for me is a good one. SO…after I got my ear dropper, I headed home
thru the “lake” and then got an insane appetite for food. Like Major cravings
for food. From here…I stopped off at a
fast food joint and got a burger. I managed two bites, and I was none longer
hungry. Once home….I let out the dogs, and got in my bike gear for my 1:30 bike
trainer ride. I had another RED LINE moment. I literally barely made it to the
bed, and passed out and slept for four hours. Seriously? This is getting just a
bit frustrating. So, My nutrition must have been way off today. When I woke, I
drank lots of water. But was asleep again within an hour.
Tuesday, I woke, and sort of feeling like I slept, was off
to work. I got out on time, and was home, I wished I brought my clothes with me
to run at Iron King. But I didn’t, so
home I went after the grocery store. I
was in my running clothes and out the door for a 7 mile run within 15 minutes.
My attempt at my longest run since June. Well…I made it about 3 miles before I
started having pain, I managed 5 miles of running and ½ mile of walking and I
hobbled home. I even did my exercises before/after the run to no relief. I’m
happy I could just stick with Ibuprofen and got some relief.
Wednesday, was my day off from work, I was planning a 4:15
bike ride. I even woke early, the sky was the perfect clear sky that you have
ever saw. Especially since the entire week has been forecasted for rain up to
80%. I let the dogs out, and once again had a REDLINE moment. I was back in
bed, and slept til 8 am, then till 10am, then til 1 pm when I finally dragged
my butt out of bed and on the road in 15 min to the Y. I got in one of my best
swims in a while 2600 yds with no pull buoy, no pain my hip. I had 15 min to
spare once out of the pool to get cleaned up and over to the Orthodontist. Then
I was headed home. I hit up the grocery store and got some healthy food, once
home I cooked up my ckn and sweet potatoes and veggies. I was planning on doing
a 1 ½ bike ride on trainer, but I knew my body was done, I didn’t need another
redline moment. So I finished out the night with a movie and to bed early.
Thursday, I was home after work, again feeling crappy, but I
didn’t give myself the opportunity to miss, and I was on my trainer and got in
20. 4 miles with 3 x7 Threshold efforts. Whew! Feel the burn!!! I hope these
high intensity workouts are going to be worth it. I really just need to work on
nutrition for the most part, I got in lots of H2O today, so that helps I think,
and I stayed away from crap. SO my body is adjusting a bit better I think. Only time will tell.
Friday I was out of work on time. But once home I was
planning to do my run and hopefully head over to visit with a friend. Instead I
had another redline moment, was asleep less then ten minutes after talking with
Nicole, and then literally slept til 7:30ish. Which after I managed to drag my
butt out of bed long enough to let her know I zoned out..I literally was out
and sleeping again with an hour. So…Friday
unofficially became my off day.
Saturday, worked, then was home and before I had a chance to
do anything, I was in my running clothes and out the door fast. I was hoping
for just an hour, not knowing how my leg would feel. But I did an hour, felt
good, did another mile, felt good, and so on until I hit 1:40 and Eight miles
later I was done. Nice. I still hurt, but not horrible. I did resort to IBP,
and I got in my PT exercises and got my stuff ready for Sunday, before I went
to bed.
Sunday, I woke bright and early at six AM. I let the dogs
out, and excited to see sun and blue skies, I was in my bike gear ASAP. By the
time I had everything together I was on the road by 7sh. I had a 4:15 hour ride today followed by a 4
mile run. I had to do 3 x 12 min threshold laps, then 6 x 1 VO2 ( basically go til you almost pass out
speed) with one min recover, then 3 x 20 min Tempo. What I like was that the
Threshold rides were easier than I thought, maybe because I’ve been on my
trainer a lot, and that tends to be harder, but more in control with
pacing. I, of course, hit my first
recovery break on a hill, LOL so that wasn’t really a break. My
Tempo rides for 20 were better, I actually was faster with my speed! This makes
me very excited!!! it means this Intensity vs Voloume for training is
WORKING!!! I have heard of it, read
about it. But I’m not sure I believed in it. But one of my desires was to get a
coach this year, and I did get one with FC Coaching. I put my trust in someone else (another hard
thing for me to do, since it always goes South). And so far I like the results.
Finally, something positive. I’m embracing this change in training; even though
it makes me nervous knowing I have less than three months til race day. 76
Days? Really? Where did all the time go? All the training? Where did Day 100
go? I must have been in MT. If this works out well, which I’m getting a good
feeling about, then I’m going to use it for Boulder next August.
So after I got my second tempo ride in heading out towards
Williamson Valley, suddenly I was having trouble controlling my bike. Yep a
flat. I actually didn’t mind, because the more practice I get the better I get.
Since I was a bit rusty, it took me about 10 min to change, less if I didn’t
triple check the tire, because I couldn’t find where the puncture was. But I
was back on my bike and riding. I headed up the hill on Williamson Valley Rd. And
realized that I was back in Threshold riding, but there was no other way on the
hills, so I took it up in about 20 min, and then enjoyed the ride down. I had
to stop for water at the Softball Complex, so good news, I was hydrating A LOT. Back on the road, got in my last Tempo ride
of 20 min. I was suppose to finish in Endurance, which is very low HR. But I
kept creeping up in Tempo and Threshold. Part of that was that I felt good. The
other part was a looming thunderstorm, which spit rain on my on my last ten
miles, but it felt good. I rolled in about 30 minutes later than planned, at
4:45 hr/min.
My Garmin was acting up, so it took me about ten minutes to
get it restarted and out on the run. I took off. What I thought was slow, cause
I felt like a new baby giraffe attempting to walk for the first time( good ol’
brick feeling in the legs) and actually was running :30 seconds fastest then
usual. Each mile got progressively better by feeling, but time was slower. And I
felt it. So that tells me, I should of
made myself get in endurance more on the bike at the end, so I had some left in
the tank for the run. I will need to
work on that.
I’m also learning that every part of training counts with
this plan. And none of the time spent training is “junk” miles, or miles just
getting “logged” in. Everything has a focus and a purpose. I like that. I kind of felt that way with
some of my training from my first Ironman, like I was just logging mileage. But
I know my body can’t handle all that volume as much.
My nutrition was a bit better this week as well. So the plan
is to keep that up. Week Nine, I work another weekend, so logging in some
workouts will be a challenge, but I get two days of J
and Week Ten is a Recovery Week, so I’m anticipating a trip down to Phoenix to
go check out the new Athleta store in Kierland Commons, how convenient that Is
in the same place as Lucy.
I forgot how much I slept during my first Ironman for training,
and how much effort it takes to just think, or respond to a text or email, or
return a phone call, clean the house, walk the dogs. What normally has a 24-48
hour turnaround, feels like it takes almost two weeks to respond back. A few
friends are privy to this, unintentionally.
The fun parts of Ironman training I guess.
