Can an Average Runner Become an IRONMAN?

Audaciously...I'm thinking, "YES!"

Lost a week of training… sick!!

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out sickUgh! just missed 6 days of training. Just had a good ole knock-me-down cold. I had to prioritize sleep and the 2 days of client on-site co-facilitation I had this week. (Thank goodness I was co-facilitating with someone I’ve worked with for a while! I leaned on her heavily!! Thanks Ellen!)

I will say that I did a better job of accepting that I was sick and not angsting (too much) over the lost training. It was pretty clear I needed to rest and rest and I made sure it was 95% out of my system before I went back to it.

Saturday – Finally a workout!! Slept in and went to the 45-minute cycling class. Then did 45 minutes of running. Felt great! I felt strong after all the rest. Good to know there was some fitness in there waiting for me. 🙂

TOTAL = 90 minutes! Ha!

 

Monthly Assessment time!

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swim startI think I’m a little late with this… In any case, feeling like time for a “monthly assessment,” so let’s do it!

Feeling like I’m making some progress and confidence for this Ironman Wisconsin in-the-water swim start!

Month 3 goals Month 4 goals
swim endurance and skills – getting better, ocean swims were much-needed confidence boosters

get a bike trainer – done!

stretching:

  • active stretching and core before workouts – little bit better, doing lunges and short planks prior along with my typical leg swings
  • light stretching after workouts – great after cycling classes

buy new bike pedals – not done! Will put this off until my 30-hour visit to bike store, about 12 more hours to go, might not get to until March.

get organized for nutrition:

  • identify high protein, low carb (close to 1:1 ratio) foods – done!
  • stock easy to snack/eat foods – added in more almonds, eggs, almond butter, Quest bars
 swim endurance and skills, be able to do more than down and back without taking a break

get bike set up on bike trainer

stretching:

  • get ab, glute prior-to-workout routine going
  • try Deep Stretching video
  • get stretch routine going

spectator info and plan

improve nutrition; try edamame, lentils, and Canadian bacon

 

 

Week 39… First Open Water Swims!!

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CaboThis was a vacation week for me and the hubby. We were in Cabo! I tried to follow the plan, yet kept shifting stuff. Ended up doing most of what I was supposed to do.

And…had a huge confidence booster: I swam twice in the ocean and it went well!! More details below…

Planned Actual
Sunday run 30

swim

bike 45

 Ran 40, did some surges half way through, felt super hard, was counting this down, want to say that the treadmill wasn’t set properly…???

Did a little bit of strength work.

Didn’t find a good place to swim, didn’t want to feel like an idiot doing drills through people who were standing around drinking.
Monday run 30

bike 45

 Swam 40, got up early and did lengths back and forth in the pool, got most of a usual workout in.

Bike 45, was a low bike (more horizontal), felt this in my glutes!
Tuesday swim Swam in ocean! We went over to the other resort where you can actually swim in the ocean. I had the hubby time me for 30 minutes, I did a little more than that and I just swam back and forth. I did about half bilateral and half breathing every stroke. After I stopped monkeying around with my goggles and accepted that you can’t see totally clearly, it went well! I finished a half an hour without too much trouble! This was a HUGE confidence booster!

 
Wednesday run 65 Ran 65 minutes. It was terrible! I had cramps from the beginning, I took two 5-minute breaks. Was a BIG BONK. Now, I know I’m on vacation and don’t have my normal nutrition options in the morning, but geez, I would’ve thought an easy run would’ve gone better than this. I also had an amazing deep tissue massage the day before, so maybe that flushed too much into the system?? Searching for reasons…. in any case, not a good run.

 
Thursday  swim

bike 40

  40 minutes on a spin bike. Pushed it and it was a great workout.

Another ocean swim! Did 5 lengths from buoy to buoy in front of the resort. Hubby said it looked like the length of a football field. ?? Who knows? It was an over-30-minutes continuous swim. Yay!! Went well. Didn’t monkey with the goggles, just swam.

So far…I like open water swimming better than pool swimming!!
Friday  off  off
Saturday bike 65 Did a 60 minute run on the mountain side! Would run horizontal terrain in between short ups and downs. Was a challenge. Stopped for ice at minute 52.

Was a great workout.

TOTAL = 375 minutes = 6.25 hours …better than I thought!

  • Run = 165 min
  • Swim = 110 min!!
  • Bike = 85 min
  • Strength = 15 min

Week 40! What??! from “11 weeks in” to “week 40”? I’ll explain…

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thought in headI started this counting of the weeks in a complicated way. Typically triathlon training plan weeks indicate the number of weeks away from the race. So, week 4 is one month before your event, not 4 weeks into your training.

I probably should’ve counted down from 52 weeks, but I didn’t do that! So confusion reigns!!

This week – with week 40 – I’m starting a 20-week “mini cycle” of the 20 week Ironman training cycle I’ll be starting in late April. You’ll see me counting down the weeks from 40 to 20; then there’s a week before we start the 20-week plan to Ironman. (Technically, this is week 41, but I’ll call it week 40 so I can see how it relates to the week 20 plan that I’ll be doing 21 weeks from now. Got it??!)

Sunday – Off. I did my usual Sunday swim on Saturday to enable a day off. My “usuals” will change this week, since we’re now starting to mimic more closely the final 20 week plan.

Monday – Did a run in Elburn – from my Mom’s house – in the morning. 5.5 miles. Cycling class in the evening = 2 hours

Tuesday – Swim session, it didn’t go well. The night before I thought about what I’d do if the lake waters were super choppy on race morning and got myself worked up and nervous. Showed in my workout. Didn’t finish it as quickly as I had in my previous session. There’s a possibility I did an extra 50, but was notably slower regardless. I need to shift my mental approach to swimming. Then did a Tetra Sculpt class. Did it, finished fine, yet felt a little like I was just going through the motions. = 1.75 hours

Wednesday – Didn’t run in morning. Chose extra sleep. Ran 45 minutes between training and client dinner. Was supposed to do 60 min. = 45 minutes

Thursday – Was supposed to do a 30 min bike ride. I added 15 min to make up for the shorter run on Wed. Then got to city in time to do a swim at the gym. This swim session went better. Did the core/original part in just under 33.5 minutes. Focused on my arm movement to stay calmer. = 1.5 hours

Friday – Planned off day, yet traveling on Saturday, so did Saturday’s 60 min bike ride. Got out on the lakefront! Successful clipping and unclipping and pushed it some on the way back. = 1 hour

TOTAL = 7 hours

  • Swim = 1.5 hours
  • Bike = 2.75 hours
  • Run = 1.75 hours
  • Strength = 1 hour