Can an Average Runner Become an IRONMAN?

These week #s are going to get confusing!

October 18, 2015 by Amy Riley 2 Comments

Well, really I’m the one that’s confusing!! In Ironman training plans, week 1 is usually race week and then they count BACK from there.

So, for example, I have a 20 week plan that I’m going to be following the 5 or so months leading up to the race. So that’ll be weeks 20 to 1. And then my Coach is having me do a mini replicate of those 20 weeks prior to that. So that’ll be weeks 40 to 21. Yet, we’ll take a week break in between the two 20-week plans.

Therefore, week 40 will be the week of November 30 – which is 41 weeks before the race. Ha!

Any way…I guess I’ll count UP to week 11 and then I’ll count down from week 40, with one mystery week in there with no number.

Makes total sense, right??! Good!

Making Ironman training a family affair

October 17, 2015 by Amy Riley 5 Comments

I’ve been looking for ways to make Ironman training a family affair. It’s not easy. No one wants to do 1.5 hour brick workouts with me! Yet, I’m trying to get creative…

It started with the idea of going swimming with McKenzie on Sundays. She’s a strong swimmer. I figured we could go to the lap pool (our gym has a 4th floor family pool and a 1st floor lap pool – the serious folks are on floor 1). I was hoping we could fly under the radar and not attract anyone’s attention. We are an 8-year-old girl and a woman in a boy short bikini (because I can’t find any one pieces that I like and I continue to look like a vacationer, rather than an athlete.) So, we do not look like the others!

McKenzie and I did really well with this swim routine together. It’s a nice chunk of time with her, where we change in the locker room together, sneak down the back steps, do our workout, she critiques me on my kick (she says I need work, she is not wrong), we sneak back up and take side-by-side warm showers. I love this time with her.

Then Jake wanted in on the swimming action. Oh boy! He’s younger and less focused, I wasn’t sure how this would go. But he and I braved the more complicated logistics of going to the family changing room, of him waiting while I locked up our stuff in the women’s locker room, of sneaking down 4 flights of stairs, of staying in the same lane in the pool — He did really well! At times he just got out to walk along and critique my kick. He gave me a zero out of 100. 🙁 — of sneaking back upstairs to shower in the stuffy family changing room.

I then took on taking them both to swim at the same time! I’m proud to admit, even with a swim instructor by the pool the whole time, we did not get asked to leave!!

And this week, 2 things came together. During the Girls on the Run (GOTR) session on Thursday, McKenzie and I talked about running 3 miles together outside of the GOTR session. Then…when my Coach said I could have an easy half hour run after my 1 hour on the bike, I thought it was a great time to do that 3 mile run with my daughter.

We went ahead and made it 3.1 miles, her first 5k training run!

I’m also hoping to do some cycling training with my husband… and I’ll see what else we can dream up.

I’m open to ideas!!

Week 5… less than 11 months to go!!

October 17, 2015 by Amy Riley 1 Comment

Week 5!

Had a 2-day all-day certification training this week. So I practiced having a couple of longer days with a day off on the second day of the training. It might have “bunched” too much stuff up at the beginning of the week. I was ti-red by Thursday.

Sunday – Didn’t do the half hour swim. Rescheduled to Monday.

Monday – 1 hour strength. Went to Below the Belt. Did a 1/2 hour swim with the kids. = 1.5 hours

Tuesday – Worked out in the evening. 1 hour of strength = tech upper and tech lower. Then did a 45-minute cycling class. = 1.75 hours

Wednesday – off

Thursday – Ran 4 miles with Christine + Half hour swim. This is twice this week that the swim was after another workout on the same day. Phew, those kicks make me tired (I hope I’m doing them right!) And…in the pool today I did one length of the pool breathing only every 5 strokes…and I didn’t drown!! = 1 hour, 10 minutes

Friday = Ran 6 miles. = 1 hour

Saturday = Cycling class at the gym. 3.1 mile run with my daughter! She’s in Girls on the Run and will race her first 5k next month. We decided to run 3 miles together today. Then, if you’re going to go 3 miles, you might as well add in the .1! Good job McKenzie! = 1 hour, 40 minutes

TOTAL = 7 hours

Wow, this is less hours than the last 2 weeks, yet it felt like more! It was less, but more challenging.

And…I stretched a lot Monday through Wednesday. Fell off the band wagon a bit, but at least got in a roll on the foam roller most nights.

I’m itching to increase volume…, but my coach and swim instructor have other ideas!

October 14, 2015 by Amy Riley Leave a Comment

I see 16 and 18 hour training weeks out there in the training plan, and I itch to ramp up my volume.

I did an initial increase in month 1 and I thought I’d continue to move this up aggressively over the coming weeks.

My coach and swim instructor have other ideas!

My coach wants me to get into a good routine with stretching and foam rolling. She knows that – although I haven’t had any significant injuries – I have had little niggling (my descriptor, not hers) things late in a training season. And she knows that I don’t love the rolling torture device or find stretching to be very exciting. I prefer intense workouts (have never loved yoga workouts). She knows I won’t naturally do this unless she makes it a training goal. Okay, I hear you!

My swim instructor wants me to slowly (my view!) and consistently build my skills. For example, she wants me to work on a few skills for the next month before we meet again for my next lesson. “A whole month!?,” I thought. Yeah, she’s right, it’s going to take me that long to reasonably tackle these form issues.

So, patience, Amy, patience. It’s time to get your fundamental skills and practices in place.