On My Own

WEEKLY WORKOUTS
SWIMMING 2:30 (3 days)
BIKING 12:45 (4 days)
RUNNING 1:55 (1 day with 3 bricks)
WEIGHTS :45 (1 Day)

It seems like I've been having a lot of AHA! moments recently. I think it's because I'm spending so much time by myself training that not only am I exercising my body, but my brain too. I've always wanted to train with a group for an Ironman because I thought I would benefit greatly from it like I've had with TNT in the past. I do ride with people usually for long rides, but for the most part, every other training session is by myself. There's something about training with a group that is comforting. Plus, when you're having a crappy day training, you have other people to push you along the way. When you're by yourself it's you and only you to depend on during the ups and downs. With that being said, I actually like training on my own. Come race day, I'm on my own when I'm out there. Andrew can give me all the training plans he wants, but it's up to ME to get the job done. He is always in my head when I'm training, but I'm the one out there swimming, biking and running. I only have myself to depend on to train the hardest I can. Sure there are times when I could probably push it a little more and maybe if I was running with someone, I would go :30 faster a mile. I've been told I have multiple personalities, so I guess I'll just bring 2 of them out there when I'm running and I'll have 1 lead the way and push. This was my biggest training weekend so far. I was scheduled to do a century ride (100 miles) on Saturday and 56 miles on Sunday. I knew a couple of people doing the ride, but we never talked about meeting up. I got myself mentally prepared to do it on my own. It was at this point I realized that no matter what this is my race and I'll be doing by myself, so why not train alone? I was extremely fortunate on Saturday to meet some people around mile 30 who I rode with for the remainder of that ride and Sunday's ride. Even though I caught up with people, I was out there with the intentions of doing it by myself. That's now how I'm going to approach all of my training sessions. During IMLP I'm sure I'll end up having conversations with people that I'm similar in pace to. It happened to me last season @ Augusta on the run and the bike. The bottom line is it really doesn't matter if I'm solo or I have a group when I'm training. If I have people to swim, bike or run with, great. If not, I know I am capable of doing it by myself too.

I had an easy swim on Monday and a kick ass swim on Friday. I did 1 arm drills and sprints on Friday that were tough, but awesome. I felt pretty sluggish on Wednesday. I just felt like my body didn't really want to move. It was one of the few swim workouts that I didn't feel 100%, but that's fine. You can't always be on top of your game.

Biking, oh the week of biking. I think Lucy Roo and I finally see eye to eye now. This was the 1st week of Ironman training that I felt like a decent cyclist. Even if I wasn't going fast, not once did I get frustrated. There have been several adjustments made to my bike and boy were they obviously necessary. It has been a huge improvement from the past few months. AHHH!!! Last Tuesday I was supposed to do 4 hill repeats and I only got 3 1/4 done. I was kind of psyched that I did as many as I did considering the trouble I've had on the bike thus far, but I was also disappointed in myself that I couldn't push myself a little harder. In my training plan this week it was written FOUR hill repeats. Before I got out there I made a pact with myself that no matter what I was getting up that mountain 4 times even if it killed me. Guess what???? I'm still here and not only did I get up that thing 4 times, I did it 1.5 minutes faster per climb. Now onto the century. WOO freaken HOO!!!! I actually felt fine out there. The weather ended up getting pretty hot and there was a ridiculous amount of wind going against us, but when I was done, I felt pretty damn good. I did hit a wall around mile 75 and wow was it not pretty. I just didn't want to be out there anymore and I wanted the wind to go away. I quickly got out of that frame of mind and finished strong. My 100 mile ride turned into 106 miles after a short detour of getting lost. I came home and took and ice bath which I think really helped my recovery. Our plan for the 56 was to just take it easy. There were times my legs were tired, but for the most part my legs had no idea I rode 100 miles the day before. Once again WOO freaken HOO!!! This was exactly what I needed!

I didn't have much running to do this week. My big run was a 45 minute interval run that knocked me on my ass. I was pretty dead by the end of the run. I wish my legs felt fresher, but they didn't. As Andrew said last week, it was my legs reminding me of Kennesaw mountain. Thanks legs, I don't think I really needed that reminder. I also had a 10 minute run after my ride yesterday and a 30 minute run after today's ride. The 1st mile today was tough. My legs were moving super slow. After that though I felt kind really good. The last portion of my run was surprisingly fast. I'm guessing it's because I knew it was coming to an end.

One of the things I really need to focus on is my nutrition while training. It wasn't until I trained for my marathon in 2007 that I found out my stomach doesn't really love this stuff. I might be giving TMI, so stop reading here if you aren't curious. I tend to burp A LOT and LOUD when I bike and run. On occasion when I burp, I regurgitate liquid. Most of the time I have no idea this is going to happen, but I'm guessing it can't be a good sign. I'm pretty sure my stomach didn't love the liquids I put in it this weekend so now I need to come up with something different. I was going to try and stick with a strictly liquid plan on the bike, but I think I might need solids. I tried Infinite, which a few people I know use. If this hadn't happened before, I would think it was the Infinite. The flavor was slightly strong, so I'm not sure if there was too much sugar in it for my stomach. It's hard for the body to digest any of this for that long of a period working out. I just need to come up with the right equation where I don't get sick.

Ok so fun story, well @ least from my perspective. In October of last year my longest ride ever was 78 miles and was done @ Hard Labor Creek with the TNT cycling team. The century ride yesterday was around the same area as HLC. Well when I hit mile 77 yesterday, it was almost in the same exact spot that I finished my 78 mile ride last year. It didn't really hit me until a few miles later when we stopped. This isn't a normal place I ride. In fact, I had no idea we were even in the same area. I just thought this was kind of cool and it made me smile when I did realize it.

A week from today I'll be racing St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Pete. My only goal for the race has nothing to do with time. I would like to get through the entire swim without any open water anxiety. No matter what else happens, that's the only thing I care about.