May - a month of milestones

We're well into June, or so it seems (okay, it's only the 5th, but I feel that I'm behind in terms of enjoying my month!).  June 1st officially marked the 4 week countdown to Ironman CdA, and I was much less freaked out than I thought that I would be - probably because I was exhausted from the Ojai Century the day before and then my Sunday long run.  And then I had to put on a cap and gown and look academic for graduation on Sunday night.

May was filled with somewhat major events for me, in terms of training.  Not to measure every aspect of my life in relation to IM training, but I started the month with a great race experience at Wildflower and then capped it off with the Ojai Century.  It's strange because when I first saw some of the weeks in May, I thought that the bigger training volume would kick my ass, but once I got into the training, it didn't seem that terrible.  There were moments when I felt more 'aware' of the volume and more aware of the fact that I was doing more than I really thought I could, and occasionally my motivation waned and I missed a workout or two or cut some short (there was that really hot week in mid-May when temperatures hit over 100).  Most of the time, though, the longer runs, rides and swims seemed like a natural part of a process.  There are times when I wonder if I'm training "enough" in comparison to other people, but I remind myself that this training load has kept me quite healthy (knock on wood), with the exception of February's quad issue and my body has held up so much better than I had feared when I signed up for this experience/event.  I've definitely made some 'life' choices that did not align perfectly with the triathlon training stars, but going out on occasion with friends to drink margaritas, agreeing to be a chaperone on the annual senior class trip, well, these experiences were important to me.  

I confess that I don't actually think too much about the actual IM race at this point, but at times I try to visualize parts of it, and I did have a moment of panic after my first 4,000 yard swim left me completely exhausted and that was without a bike/run afterwards!  At the same time, it has been exciting to reach that 4,000 yard marker, to bike 100 miles and to run 18.5 miles.  The training has also surprised me in many ways.  First of all, the 18.5 mile run felt great compared to a 16.5 run the week before, during which my main focus was to not bonk (a good lesson for me - run with either more fuel or enough money to buy something!).  Also, this week, seeing 5x5 minute intervals at a 10k pace, thinking that there was no way that I'd ever be able to hit those, and then seeing that I can still hit faster paces - that made my day!  Not that it's all gone that way.  The trainer is still my nemesis - I think that I've developed a mental block that makes me hate that apparatus and liken it to a medieval torture device.  Still, after spending the month of April away from it and feeling that I'd lost bike fitness, I knew that I needed to get back on it in May.  And I do enjoy the payback, those moments when I find that I can push my legs a bit more on that 100 mile ride when I hit some nice easy rollers.

I still have plenty of hard work to do in the next few weeks, and I need to keep myself healthy and injury-free, but I enjoyed much of the "build" in May and I'm looking forward to the next few weeks, ticking off the last long ride, last long brick, last long swim...  And then, looking to the big day which will be here in about 24 days now!

Post-race motivation (And mantras)

Uff!  I thought that I would be super excited to jump back into training in May after Wildflower, but getting back into a focused groove post-race has challenged me more than expected.   Some of the issues right now are connected to work.  I thought that the end of the year would dovetail nicely with bigger training weeks, and, while things do ease up in May in some ways, as we look to the end of the year, there are also more random commitments that eat into my time.  Or, I maybe just did a better job of saying "No" in April, and recently there have been certain obligations, both work and personal, that have pulled me away from a super focused training regime.

The other issue is that this is all new territory for me.  For my previous 70.3 distance races, they were my 'A' races for the year, so afterwards, I did some serious kick-back-and-relaxing.  I had a few days off after Wildflower, which I probably enjoyed more than I should (no, I did not yearn to be training as I drank margaritas on several occasions last week!  Yes, true confessions - I drink!  Bad triathlete!).  It's even been difficult this week, and to say that I've felt reluctant about more than one workout would be an understatement.  Some of this may be fear manifesting itself in another way - because I am starting to tackle workouts that seem impossible to me when I see them written in my schedule, yet if I can't manage these workouts, how will I deal with a full Ironman in just over 4 weeks time (yikes!)?

Fortunately, that same fear has also served as a motivating factor, and I've discovered 2 new mantras that seem to push me along, even when I don't want to head out the door for a long run or ride.

One is MTFU or "Man the Fuck Up".  Sorry to be sexist here, but that little phrase seriously helped me out last weekend and again yesterday and today.  Last weekend, the end of my "recovery week" had on tap: a long run + a long ride.  Okay, the usual stuff.  But I was expecting the long run to be a recovery long run, which was not the case.  Ditto for the ride, in all respects.  While I ended up cutting the run short by about 5 minutes, I was determined to get in the full 5 hours on the bike last Sunday.  During that ride, I coined yet another mantra for myself: Embrace the suck.

Not that the entire ride sucked, because it did not, but it was a windy day and at one point, I headed east and dealt with a nasty head wind and then when I flipped it and headed west, there was still a headwind.  How is that possible!!  Also, I was at mile 76.9 of my 80 mile ride and I got a flat tire - the back tire, of course.  So, while I had been repeating "embrace the suck" during most of the ride, at that moment, I switched back to the MTFU motto to change my tire.  Well, I briefly contemplated the "Walk of shame" but decided that was NOT a viable option.  The flat repair was not a pretty experience - somehow my right leg ended up being covered in grease and I even cut myself on my bike - but I managed to change the tire all by myself like a big girl (although I secretly hoped that someone would come along and offer to help me with it).  The other MTFU experience came after the ride - I had the worst saddle sores that I've had to date.  I do know the culprit, this pair of Pearl Izumi shorts that I used to like - and maybe I still do for rides between 20-30 miles, but I'm also thinking about burning them.

As for this weekend, I would like to say that I was excited to get out and run in 90 degree heat yesterday, but that would not be the case.  I did, however, feel 'accomplished' when I hit 16.4 miles in 2:35 - especially because I was low on fuel and really worried about bonking!  I'm not confident about running 9.8 MORE miles (on top of a swim and ride) at this point, but it is nice to see that I am hitting those longer workouts, even though I'm doing it through gritted teeth half the time, cursing at myself and interchanging these two less-than-feel-good mantras.  But, hey, whatever works - I've learned that inspirational stuff doesn't work well for me, but drill sergeant tactics work every time!

Next weekend has even more fun on tap, and I'll try to post some photos too!