A New Week & A New Belt!

Thought I'd catch your attention with that title. According to Coach Dave, we're heading into the heavily-anticipated Sexy Phase of our training season, meaning that our jeans are starting to fit a little tighter around our quads, and looser around our waists. It's true. I literally had to buy myself a new belt last weekend! Buffer bodies and sun-kissed tans... watch out, IronTeam is on the prowl! [please, pay no attention to the road rash scars and bike short tanlines!]

As for last week's wrap-up ~ I got in another good mix of training, time with friends, & most importantly, time with family (since I see them less often in general).

Last Tuesday, I successfully worked up the motivation to get myself to the pool for a solo swim. It was nice to get a good stretch of the legs in, while also catching a glimpse (and effective reminder) of my endurance in the water. I still can't ever forget the fact that six months ago, I could barely make it from one end of the pool to another twice (50 yds) without my heart racing and my lungs running out of air. I swam a smooth 2000 yds total (a little over a mile), upping my rate of perceived exertion (RPE) to Level 7, periodically. And to make my Tuesday evening that much more exciting, I threw in an hour or two to catch up with my friends, Margarita & Shawn, for a pre-Cinco de Mayo drink (but not before stopping by Coach Mike's to drop off my bike and trainer). Reached home by 11:30 p.m., which despite the good time, meant a slight deficit in sleep time.

On tap for Wednesday was a spin with Team Shadow. Unfortunately, both my cadence and heart rate monitors were on the fritz so I relied on my RPE to determine how hard to work on the bike. I wanted to keep a balance by doing an aerobic fat burning workout, in preparation for my hard run the next day. In bed by 9:30 p.m. after wolfing down dinner and laying out my running clothes.

Thursday morning, I was up at the [insert your own colorful adjective here] hour of 4:30 a.m. to do my track workout. As I mentioned in my previous post, I HAD to be up this early to ensure I got in my full workout, shower/change & 45-min commute to the city in, without a hitch. Well ~ it all went successfully! Hah, considerably speaking anyway :) I got to the Cal High Track in San Ramon in the pitch-dark (and was thankful to have a headlamp with me). But because I had never been to it before, I had some trouble finding exactly WHERE it was. So instead of roaming around in my car, I improvised and did my warm-up run around the school, looking for the track. When I still couldn't find it, I put myself on the Iron Horse Trail behind the school, and did my first 2-mi piece at a threshold pace of 9:14 mins/mile. When I finally found where I was supposed to be, Coach Simon, Mentor Michelle, Marina & Kathryn were there. It was 5:30 a.m. I had just enough time to do one more full 2-mi set and finished with an average pace of 9:16 mins/mile. A little shy of my objective but consistent nonetheless. As my time was running out, Coach Simon suggested I do an 800-meter run (two laps) "as fast as I could". So I put my all into it, trying to focus on propelling forward, kicking up, and keeping my arms pumping. I looked down at my watch periodically, trying not to burn myself out in the first half-lap, and completed the 800 in about three minutes. By the time I looked at my Garmin at the finish, it read "6:42 mins/mile". Holy crap.

Just as I cooled down and left the track for the shower, the sun was shining and my spirits were up. I had made it into the office feeling refreshed and energized. Not to mention, having been so productive by 8:30 in the morning. However, two hours later, I hit the work bonk. Yep, no amount of hot cups of black tea would get me out of the being up since 4:30 a.m. daze that I was in. My body didn't feel terribly sore, it just knew something was different. I can best relate it to jetlag.

Friday through Sunday were completely devoted to M-O-M. She was asked to moderate and mentor at the Ascend West Coast Leadership Conference in San Francisco, and specifically flew up from San Diego with my Dad for it. She asked that I be her guest at the Event, and take the time to focus on what's next in my career path and agenda. I was bummed to have missed my team workouts for the weekend, but have to say it was of so much personal and professional value for me to attend the Conference, spend some time with my Mom, and meet some truly inspirational leaders and colleagues. Absolutely worth it. AND, it exercised a whole different side of my brain, that has left me a little tired, but intellectually stimulated nonetheless :)

Although I missed Saturday's long bike ride with the Team, I'm going to try my hand at simulating parts of the ride tonight on my own (and stationary). In lieu of taking my rest day today, I'll be doing a long trainer workout at home, with emphasis on spinning as hard as I can, and seeing if that lines up with my lactate threshold of 169 beats per minute (BPM).

And finally... notes on the mental training front. I've been reading up on the mental challenges that come with Ironman training and have already been reaping the benefits from the useful suggestions I've been given:

The attitudes and habits you develop in training will come out in races. If you let up or give up in training when things get too tough, then you're ingraining that habit in the face of adversity. That reaction will come out when you're faced with adversity in races. A positive reaction to adversity comes from accepting the conditions and realizing that everyone else in the race has to deal with the difficult conditions as well. A part of this positive reaction is not allowing yourself to become frustrated because your performance declines. Stay positive and motivated even when the conditions are challenging. -Jim Taylor & Terri Schneider

I'm finding that training your mind to adapt, be flexible and resilient ~ is equally as important as working to establish the physical fitness to complete the distance. I just have to keep chugging along!

Hectic week ahead ~ but it should be a fun one! Stay tuned!

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Week #26 Workout Summary:

Swim: 1 hour and 0 minutes
Bike: 1 hour and 0 minutes
Run: 1 hour and 0 minutes
Core/Strength: 0 hours and 30 minutes
Total Workout: 3 hours and 30 minutes

IronTeam's Fundraising Progress to Date: $157,170
My Fundraising Progress to Date: $8,141