It’s not going perfectly! Yet, I’m making progress. Look at this notebook. It’s full of the results, the thoughts, the doubts, the celebrations, and all the work of the first 7 months of Ironman training.

Time to get a new notebook!

Sunday – Traveled back from Nashville. Set alarm to get up and do run before we left – too tired! Felt sick to my stomach and went back to bed for two hours.

Landed in Chicago about 3:00 p.m., went out to west suburbs to pick up the kids, got home around 6:30 p.m. (I still had hours of training in front of me!)

McKenzie worked out with me! She ran 21 minutes with me. Then I went out, picked up the pace and finished my 45-minute run.

Then she went to the pool with me. Wu – 300 continuous (alternate 50 swim, 50 kick), Main – 20 x 75m, Skipped cooldown – it was too late! McKenzie had to get to bed!

For the first half, she was swimming under me on nearly every length. She puts one of my swim caps on and my fins and looks adorable, and is fast!

Then she was doing some sort of singing and dramatic arm movement show. So I was sometimes getting more rest in between than I should because I had to watch the cuteness.

Then she got out of the pool at about repeat #11 and I tried to step it up.

I’m so thankful she went with me. I NEVER would have wanted to go to the pool for this long without her.

She’s excited to do her Jr. Fitness Certification workshop at the gym – now that she’ll officially be a 4^th grader in a week – so she can come in the 3^rd floor of the gym with me ( & on the indoor track).

This was swim session I missed earlier in week. = 115 minutes

Monday – Another swim session! Didn’t want to do it. Looked at shifting it to Tuesday but low and behold, too much on Tuesday to do that. So, don’t think about it – just move forward.

Had 8:00 a.m. call, then some priority work tasks to handle. Got in pool around 9:45.

Wu = 4 x 50m was getting tired, bilateral was feeling tough

Main = 500 swim, 500 kick, Did it! Most kicking I’ve done in a row! 500 pull, felt weird, 500 swim

Then was to do 15 x 100m (25 easy, 25 build, 25 easy, 25 hard)

Had to get out of pool by 11:15 to do 2 hours on bike before 1:00 p.m. appointment, so got in just 9 100s. Totaled 90-minutes in the pool. Given the hard swim session yesterday, figured it was best to cut the swim short and do full bike.

Biked two hours in cycling room by myself. = 210 minutes

Tuesday – 90-minute bike – didn’t do in morning as planned. Went to bed early last night and woke up groggy and slightly headachy and stuffed up. I thought I was going to possibly get sick last week. But I didn’t (vitamins, sleep, orange and cranberry juice)! Then thought I maybe had allergies… now I have a cough. No worry. I just keep going. Did this at fitness center after 5:00 p.m. Skype call with Australia. = 90 minutes

Wednesday – Off. Full day of facilitation in Joliet.

Thursday – Big day! 2-hour run, was tough to get into a groove, going a little too fast at first,  struggled to settle in. So I tried to just practice how to settle in, in the moment.

Was feeling tired 50 minutes in and had chaffing under my arm 30 minutes in.

So…lessons learned –

I can keep going when I’m tired or under-fueled.

I can keep going for 90 minutes with discomfort.

And, at the end, my overall pace was 10:20. So I was thinking things were going worse than they were.

I’m doing better than I think!

Swim session – tired after run, slammed down some food, gut was churning and did it!! 90 min swim

Wu – 300 (2  50’s were kick); Main – 10 x 200m (50 easy, 50 build, each with rest around 7 minutes, 50 easy, 50 hard) did this! And all bilateral; Cd – 6 x 25m = 2,450m.

Although this session didn’t feel great: gut churning, arms tired; I saw a huge breakthrough in my ability to be able to swim hard for two lengths of the pool after swimming six lengths bilateral is completely different than where I was a couple of months ago! Progress!! = 210 minutes

Friday – Easy swim session: Wu – 250m; Main – 2 x 500m. = 35 minutes

Saturday – My coach and I talked about doing 30-minute bike and 30-minute run. I decided to sleep in and not workout. Fresh legs for the race!

TOTAL = 660 minutes = 11 hours

• Swim – 285 minutes = 43%
• Bike – 210 minutes = 32%
• Run – 165 minutes = 25%