I love this picture of Ken on the trail yesterday morning. I wonder what he is doing? Nice that he was able to use the tree as his personal fuel belt hanger.
Sunday we did a 9 mile trail run where we parked a car at one end, drove to the other end and ran over a mountain. There was lots of climbing and my legs just said “NO.” I have put in a big training week (well, at least for me). I am totally finding myself in no man’s land after finding out about getting on the X2PERFORMANCE team for Ironman Florida (see excited post HERE). In the same moment I was jumping around peeing myself with excitement, I was muttering "what the hell have I gotten myself into??”
I’m overwhelmed and a bit lost. The questions swirl in my head.
- Which training plan to use? (I’ve been reading “Be Iron Fit” which has some good plans in it. The shortest plan I can find is 30 weeks and I have 17 weeks, so I’m trying to figure out how to customize it)
- Should I hire a coach? (I’ve been talking to a couple of coaches. I’ve never had a coach before. It’s expensive, but I desperately need the guidance)
- Do I need a tri bike? (NEED? Maybe not – could probably get by on my road bike with aero bars. But, I WANT one. It’s either that or a beach cruiser. I could carry my fuel in the basket and ring the bell every time someone passed me) – in all seriousness, IM Florida is a flat, fast, non technical course and I can imagine spending the whole ride in my aero bars.
- Is it normal to be this hungry? (Good lord. I’m like a teenage boy)
- Can I even complete this thing? (the answer to that is a resounding “yes.” I know I can go the distance on November 2, it’s the training I’m worried about).
So, in the midst of trying to sort things out, I decided the best I could do would be to ramp up my training a bit. Prior to this, I had been doing about 8-9 hours a week of biking and running. This week I added in swimming (uh, yeah, got to figure out how I’m going to swim 2.4 miles all at once. Did you know that’s 160 lengths in the pool? Who does that?).
My total for the week was 12 hours of training. Both bike and run were HEAVY on the climbing. Here’s how it shook out:
Monday: 5.5 mile easy run in 48 minutes
Tuesday: 21 mile ride in 1:15 with 500 feet of gain
Wednesday: 31 mile ride in 1:46 with 1,000 feet of gain
Thursday: 2,200 yard swim (no clue how long it took – 45 minutes?)
Friday: 10 mile TOUGH trail run in 2:15 1,679 feet of gain (almost died by rattlesnake bite)
Saturday 45 mile ride in 3:15 with 2,300 feet of gain (my legs were shot. Ken asked, could you ride another 67 mile then run a marathon? I told him to shut up).
Sunday: 9 mile trail run in 2:00 with 1,300 feet of gain (I whined quite a bit on this run. You can ask Ken. From the moment we started climbing my legs did not want to go. The trail was so rocky and my legs were tired enough that I kept tripping and fell once and had a tantrum that went something like this - I am too freaking tired to do this today. I’m going to hurt myself WAH!)
Totals:
24.5 miles of running with 3,055 feet of gain – 5 hours, 5 minutes
97 miles of biking with 3,800 feet of gain – 6 hours, 26 minutes
2,200 yard of swimming – 45 minutes
12.06 hours of training
Oh, and at least 400 million calories burned which I promptly replaced with avocado/egg sandwiches, donuts and wine.
I realize that I’m going to have to alter my training to mimic the Florida course – more flats with wind, right?
This morning I’m headed at the pool for an hour swim. And tonight’s workout? I’ve got a flight leaving for Vegas at 7:20 p.m. for a girl’s trip. From last year’s trip:
I think it’s good to mix pain and pleasure.
Any advice on my above questions? Coach or no coach? Is the tri bike a necessity? Do you have one to give me? Do you like those shoes with that dress?
SUAR