Ironman Dreaming (Training Update)

I haven't said much lately about how my training is going for this monster race that is looming ever closer (and is really starting to make me nervous).  So, here's your update!

I have been exercising nearly every day for weeks.  I swim.  I run.  I bike.  I lift weights.  I even tried some Yoga (that kinked my neck... boo!).  Several days of the week I do a combo of these activities.

• Monday: a.m. short run and p.m. swim
• Tuesday: weights and swim
• Wednesday: a.m. long run and p.m. swim
• Thursday: weights and swim
• Friday: bike (shorter distance climbing 700 feet)
• Saturday: bike (longer distance, flat)

I am not obsessive about it, so some days one or the other activity falls by the wayside.  And some weeks other stuff gets in the way and I get frustrated.  That's OK, because overall I am doing fairly well.

However, I haven't lost an ounce of weight.

Of course, weight loss was not the objective.  But still.  Man, oh man... I'd like to see those numbers go down!  A great big phooey and harrumph.  I know the secret is my crummy diet.  I keep telling myself I need to love vegetables and hate sugars.  There is no magic short cut, but I am not sure I have the willpower right now to make that happen.

But I will say that I now have muscles in places that I forgot muscles were supposed to exist.  It has been a long time since I have felt this strong!



My half Ironman race is happening on August 25th.  That is coming right up in just over a month!

AHHHHH!

So, here is a break down by segment:

Swim

I need to be able to swim 1.2 miles non stop in open water (yucky water, no less).  So far, I can swim that distance, but not non stop.  My longest non stop swim has only been 600 meters, or about 40% of the distance.  I need to step it up in this segment of training.  My biggest worry for the swim, though, is that the water might be too warm to allow wetsuits.  I REALLY want to wear my wetsuit for the buoyancy it provides, so everybody please pray for cool weather for the month of August!  (yeah, I know... very unlikely living in the desert)

Bike

Bill has been going on my long rides with me for the past couple of weeks.  I am working my way up to the 56 miles I need for race day.  My longest training ride so far has been 35 miles.  We wander all around the lake from Provo to Saratoga Springs.  For those of you who live in the PNW, that's like biking from the northern tip of Lake Washington to the southern tip and back.  Kenmore to Renton and back.  The weight training is hopefully strengthening my knees, because they start to twinge around mile 30 and I need them to last for the whole ride AND the run afterwards.

Run

This is the part of the race that scares me the most.  I need to be able to run 13.1 miles AFTER the swim and the bike have worn me out.  Tomorrow I'm going on my long run (this week got a bit scrambled by my volunteer work for the city art show) of 10 miles.  So I'm not as worried about the distance, just my stamina after the other two segments.

I am not fast in any of the segments.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  But I hope to endure.  This is an endurance race, after all.

The next stage of training is to start bricking the workouts together to build that stamina.  I can't do much swim/run bricking because of pool limitations, but I can bike/run and plan to do lots of it over the next 3 weeks.  Starting this coming week I need to plan one day of swim/bike/run mini triathlons.

I am working hard at not getting sunburned as I do all this outdoorsy stuff.  My hair is bleaching out and my skin is darkening.  I think it looks weird, but I don't think I can stop it from happening.  And I'm not really going to worry about it anyways, because I'm having a lot of fun this summer!