Sunday – OK, I didn’t go to Barrington. I got home at 10pm last night, needed to eat and take care of a few things. I would’ve had to get up at 5:30am after a day of travel and 2 sets of workouts. Ugh! Just didn’t sound fun or smart (to then come back and drive 5 hours). So I decided to go back to the gym. Started cycling at 7:40am. There’s a 90-minute class at 8:30am. Pushed it during class. Felt proud of my effort in the time before, during and after the class. I did those 5ish minute hill efforts (light hill stand, light hill sit, heavy hill stand, heavy hill sit) every 15 minutes or so.

Good effort even though it was inside.

Forgot to leave time and bring the shoes for the 10-minute run. Grrrrr.

I took my daughter to camp and traffic was bad on the way back. Got home after 6pm. Couldn’t imagine doing the 2 hour swim. Thought of doing a shortened version, but no. Wiped. = 220 minutes

Monday – 30-minute continuous swim. Got to the pool about 11am it it was crowded. A guy asked me if I wanted to share a lane. Sure! I’m on a tight schedule! We were both free style swimming and passed each other a few times before the next door lane opened up. We bumped each other somehow each time we passed one another. He kicked me in the chest one time, we bumped sides another and water got rippled over my face the third. I did NOT do well with this and that was disappointing. Was it the anticipation of knowing we’d bump? If I got anxious about this, how would I handle people all around me?

I tried to think about it – actually continued to panic myself – and determined what I could tell myself to keep my mind calm and to keep going.

Here’s what I came up with:

• I will find my path.
• Keep moving forward.
• It’s calm when my head is down.
• Adjust stroke to breathe when you want.
• Settle into calm stroke.
• Focus on my arms.

Then 90 minutes on the bike. Easy spin in cycling room, multi-tasking.

Went for my bike fit! Made adjustment to seat, handle bars and shoes. Glad I did this! When Ed, my bike fitter, saw that I was 5’8” and had a size 56 bike he was concerned. He thought I’d be too stretched out. But, we got exactly where we needed to be, because my torso is long and arms are so long. (I demonstrated for him how I can put sunscreen on every part of my back myself!)

Cost $200. Also my tri-shorts I’ve been racing in and doing long bike rides in wore out in a spot, so I looked at new shorts and found some I really liked. Another $75. Then I looked at helmets. Mine is so old I needed something newer and more comfortable. Another $165. Then they recommended chamois crème – a crème version of body glide for the nether regions, most effective for bike leg they say. OK! Another $23. It’s just time and $$$, people, just time and money!

In the evening I did a 45-minute easy run. Felt great. My favorite sport! Average 9:55. = 165 minutes

Tuesday – Got up at 3:45am to fly to Ohio after staying up to 10:45pm doing work and preparing for the workshop in Ohio.

There was a client dinner. Got back to hotel about 7:45pm. Got on the bike in the hotel fitness center just before 8pm. Talked to my family, face timed with my son, answered emails, balanced my checkbook, journaled about my training. My left glute and maybe part of my hamstring were sore.

I’m telling myself to not worry about this, that it’s normal to have an ache or pain at this point in the process when I’m less than a week away from the taper (although it doesn’t feel that way when I’ve got 100 miles on the bike course and a full distance swim and lengthy (haven’t decided how much yet) bike ride and run the next week.)

Wrapped up at 10pm. Long day! = 120 minutes

Wednesday – Got back from Ohio about 7:30pm. I wanted to get in my 80-minute run if possible, so my next 2 days wouldn’t be totally jammed.

Started about 8pm. Would it be too dark? Started out light enough, but then got darker and darker. Decided to run out 40 minutes. Turned around at 30 minutes. I figured if I needed to I could run the last 20 up and down my street under the street lights. Was instead able to take another short loop on the lakefront and set myself up to finish the 80 minutes at my door step. Did strides every 5 minutes starting at 15. Helped the run go by quickly. This felt good. = 80 minutes

Thursday – I was planning to do my 3-hour run, in the afternoon, but Jake wasn’t feeling well in the morning. He didn’t go to camp. Kevin, my hubby, was with him in the morning while I was leading a webinar and on calls. I said I’d take over in the afternoon. So, change of plans. I’d do the swim session instead because Jake could swim with me part of the time and watch or be on the hope on the side for a little bit.

Warm Up = 6 x 50, Main = 3 x 700. The warm up took quite some time! Jake was talking to me in between 50s and showing me his swim “routine”. I’d say I got interrupted 2 times during each 100. After I was done with the first two 700s, he asked incredulously, “You have another one?” = 80 minutes

Friday – Did 3-hour run in the afternoon. (Had calls in the morning). Pretty early in the run it started pouring on me. I thought about looping back to the gym to run some indoors. Yet, in the end, I was already soaked and decided to just keep going. A few miles in a bike went by and it was Ed, my cycling instructor at the gym, waving to me. GREAT to get his Facebook shout out that running, with a smile on my face in a downpour is Ironman tough!

Soaked the whole time. Nice to not have sunscreen on. Chaffing followed. = 180 minutes

Saturday – BIG day! 100 miles on Ironman course and 25-minute run.

I wondered how 100 miles on the bike – on the course – would go. I’m usually sore in my left neck and shoulder by 3-4 hours in. I had my bike fit done earlier in the week and some significant adjustments were made so I was hoping the ride would feel better. Overall, things did feel better. At first I felt I was slipping back on the seat a little, yet that sensation left fairly early. I had a few times when my neck and shoulder felt sore and uncomfortable. What was nice was that the discomfort come and went.

Nutrition seemed to work well. I ate about every 45 minutes. It’s a little tough to keep track on a few roller coaster hilly roads. I just kept eating when I could, alternating between chews and picky bars.

It was tough. Miles 61 to 708 were so long and slow. Goodness it took forever for those 9 miles to click off.

My crotch was super sore and I went in with a bunch of chaffing from the wet run the day before. So it was a bit of a mess, yet really didn’t worsen much over the 100 miles.

My watch crapped out at 91 miles. I was on track for 100 so that was fine.

Told me a few things:

• I can’t use my watch as my tracking device for the bike AND the run.
• I need to get my cats eye installed.
• I was averaging 13.2 mph for the 91 miles. I did some math, over 112 miles, this is just shy of 8.5 hours, which is essentially the bike cut off time. Yikes. That’s not much wiggle room.

Anyway, 100 miles done.

Then I did 25 minutes of running. My back was sore and stiff and I was super awkward at first. Didn’t take long to settle in and surprisingly hard to keep pace reasonable and not go too fast. I didn’t want to do the running – yet I could’ve run longer. (I don’t know about 23 more miles!) but definitely could’ve run more. = 470 minutes

TOTAL = 1,315 minutes =  21.91 hours

• Swim – 110 minutes = 8%
• Bike – 875 minutes = 67%
• Run – 330 minutes = 25%