Ironman 70.3 Thoughts, Part 2

When I signed up for the 70.3 in October, at the time it seemed so far away.  A little over eight months was plenty of time to prepare.  I kept myself in pretty good shape over the winter-- running several days a week, going to spinning classes, and every Saturday morning doing a swim/spin/run session.  I stayed dedicated to this in order to be "ready" when the training began.

Around the beginning of February, I began to write out my training plan according to a 16-week one I downloaded from online.  Six days a week of training.  Two moderate run/swim days, 2 shorter bike days, and one long bike/run day followed by one long run day.  One rest day.  Yikes.  As I wrote it out on a calendar along with my work days, it began to really hit me just how challenging this was going to be.  I knew I could do it, but I don't think I had really thought about what it would be like (plus when I signed up in October, my work schedule at the time was much more triathlon training-friendly.

Training started out pretty light so although I was tired and occasionally lost a little extra sleep here and there, it was ok.  The long bike rides at that time were long for me, but they weren't difficult to fit in.  Long runs weren't all that long in the beginning.

Gradually over time as with any training plan, the intensity and duration began to increase.  Sleep between shifts was sporadic, short, and very poor quality.  I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to be eating, or fueling around and during workouts.  I wasn't halfway through the plan before I began to feel extremely burned out.  I would wake up after only four hours of sleep, if that, to go on long bike rides that I struggled through.

During that time, I started to realize first of all that working night shift was no longer working for me.  I also began to recognize that my body was not going to continue to do well if it couldn't sleep well.  Things had to change.

Once I got my sleeping habits under better control and then switched to days, things did improve somewhat.  But I was still finding myself feeling tired of this training, tired of having very little social life, and tired of being tired all the time.  I think one of the things I am proudest of out of all of this isn't necessarily related to race day.  But to the mere fact that I didn't give up when things got hard.  I came close to it.  There were days I wanted to quit entirely, days I cried because I just felt like I couldn't keep going.

For me to cross that finish line knowing I had done my absolute best to train and prepare for this race was the proudest moment of them all.  I have seldom ever found myself overcome by emotion, but after finishing I was completely overwhelmed.

I don't know if I will do this again next year, but I know I will do this again.  I gave up being able to travel, go on social outings with friends, getting good sleep (this will be better in the future I can assure you), among many other things.  I'm simply not sure I will be ready to give all of that up again next year.  I've definitely learned ways to not it for the next time which may help.

As for right now, I am training for the Leavenworth Marathon on October 1st  My first marathon, and I am so excited!  Four to five days a week of training with two whole rest days is so much nicer.  Don't get me wrong: the long runs are long and this is definitely not going to be easy.  I am not and never will be a fast or really good runner.  But I love working toward goals, and this one I am excited about!

Ironman 70.3 Thoughts, Part 1

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you probably know some of my journey over the past few years.  It was just over three years ago I made a huge lifestyle change.  I started small.  Eating healthier portions, cutting back on processed foods, and walking a couple of miles a day.  At the time, I really had no intentions of doing anything except for losing weight.

Fast forward to this week, and I completed a Half Ironman.  There's SO much that has happened in three years to get me here.  None of it has been overnight.  And the journey has most definitely been full of ups and downs, discouragement, and difficulties.  I will be the first to say that none of this comes easy for me.  I do not have natural talent and ability when it comes to running, swimming, or biking.  I can't tell you how many people have said to me, "I could never do what you did."  And if you don't want to do it, then I don't encourage you to.  But I want to say to all those people: I am a prime example of someone that could never have done this.

I hated exercise.  In fact, I hated anything health or fitness related.  It was all nothing but a reminder of just how out of shape, slow, and unhealthy I was.  I preferred to embrace my size and not do anything about it, because that was the easy thing to do.  I hated pushing myself out of my comfort zone.  Even when I started out, I felt embarrassed and ashamed on my walks because being a 26-year-old walker screamed to everyone, "Look at me!  I'm out of shape!  I'm fat!  I can't run!"

But I started somewhere, and with no intention of ever doing anything more.  And I was ok with that.  It was only when I moved away from Florida that I became a runner.  I think part of it was that walking was getting boring.  Another part was I was dating a guy who valued fitness over everything, and I felt like I needed to do more than I was already doing.  (And let me just say, that is the dumbest reason EVER to start doing anything!)  I downloaded Couch to 5K on my phone and started there.

Over the next year, I dealt with nasty shin splints, severely disordered eating, a stress fracture, weight gain and total loss of fitness, until I finally reached a place after my injury where running was possible again.  Bloomsday was a huge deal.  Next came my sprint triathlon, another huge accomplishment for me.  I set my sights on a half marathon in October, and was able to finish with a much faster time than I thought was possible for me.

My friend Haley had signed up for the 70.3 a few months before.  Being a much more hard-core athlete than me, I figured that was something for the big leagues and I would never be able to do it.  But something in the back of my mind kept nagging me, telling me this was something I had to do.  I was scared to death.  And because it scared me, I knew I had to do it.  Of course signing up in October, it seemed like a great idea!  It was still so far away, and there was plenty of time to get in tip top shape.  I would often find myself anxious for the "real" training to begin, although I was pretty hardcore in keeping up with informal training all winter long.  March 6, day 1 of training, loomed in the distance and I was excited.

I didn't anticipate just how difficult the journey was really going to be.

Ironman 70.3 FINISHER!

Ironman 70.3 Coeur d'Alene IN THE BOOKS!

Where do I even begin?  I am still riding the wave of post-race euphoria at this point... I finished, and I finished strong!

Leading up to this race I had thoughts of a DNF plaguing me.  Constantly.  Of course now that the race is over and I finished, I laugh at that but it was truly a worry I had.  It's easy in retrospect to wonder those things, but I had never put my body through anything this difficult before and had no idea how well it would withstand it.

Swim: 40:09
Bike: 3:43:47 (potty break included)
Run: 2:15:57
Overall time: 6:56:21

I will share more about the race itself later.  I am just enjoying the satisfaction today of having finished the race so strong and so well.  I am amazed at the human body and what it can withstand.  How strong and resilient it is.  Three years ago when I turned 26, I told myself that my late twenties were going to be better than my early twenties.  I was tired of how unhealthy I felt, how slow and sluggish I felt.  I started with 2-mile walks.  That was all I could handle.  Much has happened between now and then to get me where I am... but here I am three years later, 29 years old and swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56, and running 13.1!  All in succession!  The human body is incredible!

Today is a total recovery day.  And I'm going to enjoy it.

We're closing in fast on my triathlon... only 16 days to go!  Motivation ebbs and flows these days, which I am pretty sure is normal.  I have a hard time getting in some of my shorter workouts, (but I'm doing them!) because I am just so ready to be done with this training plan and have my life back.  I have no intentions of quitting running when I am done, but I think I will probably put my bike away for at least a few weeks.  But I don't know.  I think going on a bike ride as part of cross-training (instead of always pushing to be a little faster or grinding up those hills until I can't breathe) is going to be much more enjoyable than what I have been doing.

All in all, training is actually going pretty well.  I talked in my last post about my hope for a break-through with the bike.  I can't actually say I had a break-through, but I felt stronger on my 60-miler yesterday than I have on any other long bike ride so far.  I think part of it is that I haven't let myself skip any of my shorter bike workouts for a couple of weeks, and sometimes it was easy to let those ones fall to the wayside (usually on work days-- sometimes sleep is as important as training).  So yesterday I biked 60 miles.  I think for the first time I actually felt like a cyclist out on the roads.  I felt very comfortable in aero, speeding down the hills was effortless (for the most part... sometimes I still have to slow down a little), and I rode out in traffic like a pro.

The ride didn't start that way, however.  So Spokane has this awesome bike trail called the Centennial Trail.  I'm not sure how far out it goes, but it's at least 60 or 70 miles long, sometimes designated as a bike/running trail only, and connected by roads at other parts until you get to the next portion of the trail.  For instance, probably ten or so miles of yesterday's ride was out on the roads in traffic, although still on the Centennial Trail.

So anyway, in the first mile-- actually, the first half mile of my ride, as I started going up a hill, upon changing gears (using the left/front derailleur... I know better and don't know what I was thinking looking back on it) the chain slipped.  And of course instead of just unclipping my shoes right away and stopping, the fight-or-flight took over and I started pedaling furiously as if that was going to make any difference.  Once my logical side kicked in I knew I needed to unclip, but by this time my bike had pretty much come to a stand-still and next thing I knew I was falling over.  Thankfully I just walked away with a bruised and scraped elbow, but I was so mad I almost turned around and decided to just put off the ride until today.  I didn't, and ended up having a great ride!  It's funny how something so simple as a fall made me want to quit in that moment.  I think just being irritated and then the prospect of SIXTY DAMN MILES to go just made me feel very frustrated.

As far as the new day shift life goes... it is AMAZING!  I can't believe the difference I feel.  I've transitioned so easily to it.  I have been asleep by nine almost every night, I don't generally sleep in, and I just feel great overall.  It is weird to get to about 7:30-8:00 in the evening and realize hey, it's time to start settling in.  I've created somewhat of a bedtime routine, which is nice.  Coming home from work and going to sleep easily and STAYING asleep is just so wonderful.  Incredible what sleep can do for one's quality of life.  Especially for my recovery between workouts.  So much of muscle recovery happens when you sleep.  I was losing out on a lot of that because my sleep was so erratic and short.

Anyway, I feel I have written a novel here, but since I haven't kept up well with my once a week posts, I had some ground to make up for!  Happy Thursday!

Biking Blues

Post long bike ride... I am always amazed at the all-day hunger that ensues!  It seems no amount of food completely satiates me on these days.  It's difficult to justify eating all day long, even with the amount of activity I'm doing and yes, even if it's healthy food.  Of course I don't literally eat all day, but every few hours is quite often for most people.

Biking just isn't my strength, which I think is part of it.  It is so incredibly taxing for me.  I keep waiting for some sort of break-through, where I'll kill a ride and be a total badass doing it.  But mostly I just feel like I'm struggling through every ride, and I can't figure out why.  My nutrition both before and during is pretty on-point.  I have been training now for twelve weeks (crazy right?!) and spent the entire winter in high-intensity spinning classes 2-3 days a week to prepare myself so I wouldn't start biking season with weak legs.

I'm a fairly decent swimmer, especially for someone who has never swam competitively.  I have cut my swim times to probably 2/3 of what they were before last fall.  My running pace has improved, as well as my endurance.  What gives with the bike?  I can't figure out if maybe it's mostly my attitude (which has been incredibly discouraged) or my legs just aren't biking legs.  I don't know.  I'm strong, I have muscular legs, and cardiovascular-wise I am very in shape.

I'm trying not to be discouraged by this.  I know I have been giving it my all, especially given the schedule I work.  Being on night shift is one of the hardest things to do when you're trying to train for something like this.  Add to it the long runs of 12-hour nights, trying to squeeze workouts in between, running (literally) on very little sleep... it's been really tough.  I've made many sacrifices to do this, and I shouldn't downplay that.  I've worked damn hard and I will own that.  But I am still frustrated with the biking.  Perhaps next week I will be back with a better report there?  That big break-through I'm hoping for?  ;)

The Beat Goes On

The rhythm of life drums on the same day in and day out.  My life is pretty much consumed with working, training, eating, and sleeping.  I don't do much else right now.  Training has returned to being a bit more enjoyable, my bike rides less burdensome than before.  I still have fear on the roads with traffic, and at times I am a bit held back by this.  But I'm no longer worried about race day and whether or not I will finish the ride in time.  What will be is what will be.

Right now I'm very focused on my nutrition and listening to my body.

As for my nutrition, I have been working with a dietitian to help me with my daily intake as well as my sports nutrition around my workouts.  Having never trained for anything at this kind of intensity before, I felt I was sort of spinning my wheels in that department.  I wish I had reached out earlier for help, but seeing how I will be training for a marathon starting as soon as my triathlon is done, I thought it was wise.  So far it has been so helpful, and I look forward to making progress in that area.

Learning to listen to my body is hard.  You want to get in the necessary training sessions, but not push yourself to the point of injury.  I trained through a nagging Achilles issue last week, and as soon as I finished my 12-mile run on Thursday I knew I probably should not have done that.  I have issues with training through pain when I shouldn't.  So this morning before my workout, I promised myself that if I started my run and felt the pain, I would stop.

I swam my sprint intervals and felt great.  So I changed into my running clothes, excited to start my run.  And I felt it... just barely.  But the twinge of pain told me that if I kept running on it, it wasn't going to just get better as the run went on.  So I turned around and decided to go to bed early.  A little extra rest never hurt anyone, and it's better to be safe than sorry.  Even as I walked into my apartment, my mind was yelling at me to get back out there and finish that workout, dammit!  But I knew I was doing the right thing for my body.

It may seem silly that it's so hard to do this, but when you're in training and wanting to prepare your body for the stress of a race, it's actually a lot harder to skip workouts than you might think, regardless of how you feel.  I'm proud of myself for listening to my body and holding back when I knew it needed a little more rest.  I will plan on doing that run tomorrow.

I am not going to lie.  I look forward to June 26, not only because I am excited to race, but I am also going to be ready to have my life back.  Will I do another 70.3 next year?  I don't know.  I think if I actually enjoy the race itself, I might.  I know training for a marathon will be no easy feat either, but my training plan for that incorporates 2 rest days plus 1 cross-training day each week.  And on top of that, I simply enjoy running more than swimming or biking.

Well, perhaps I shall be back on here to write something besides triathlon talk.  Once my life gets back to "normal," that might be the case!