Sorry for the absence of posts, I've been really busy with school and once I get out of the habit of writing things daily, it's hard to start up again. Anyway, here's a brief recap of the last few weeks.
Week 17
Things really seemed to come together this week. I met someone who works in a lab on the floor as me who offered me the use of his kayak to practice open water swimming, someone else who's done several Ironmen (including CdA) offered to actually do some open water swimming with me, and on Friday I met a group of people at the pool all training for Ironman CdA. I was with them for part of my workout and was pretty shocked at how different it was to swim right behind somebody. I swam harder than I normally do by myself and while I still had a hard time keeping up, I didn't get lapped and I didn't feel like I was in anyone's way. I'll probably try to swim with them a couple more times if it works in my schedule.
Week 18
I felt a little down this week. I was technically tapering for a mock Olympic length race (that I did by myself on a course I made up) but I was lacking in motivation and didn't swim all week. I had a hard time pushing myself to finish my rides and runs, and for the first time I started to worry that I wouldn't have the mental strength to finish an Ironman. In spite of those things my "race" went pretty well. I got up at 4 to have a bowl of oatmeal, went back to bed for an hour and got back up and started swimming at 6:15. I showered quickly before getting on my bike so I wouldn't be all itchy and smelling like chlorine, and I had to take my bike off my roof rack, so my transitions were very different than they'd be in an actual race. There was a fierce headwind on the way out on the bike, so it took me more than an hour to get to my turn-around point (12 miles) when I had hoped it would take me more like 45 minutes. There was also more climbing on the ride out; that, coupled with the wind was pretty disheartening and made me wonder how I'd be able to finish 112 miles in a couple of months. The way back felt much better though, and I started to feel pretty optimistic, until I got a flat tire with 5 miles left. I hadn't practiced changing one since October, so it took me 20 minutes, but I did it all by myself despite numerous offers of help from people running or riding past. The run part of the "race" felt alright, my legs were definitely tired and it didn't help that the entire route was either uphill or downhill but fighting the wind. I still averaged an 8:13 pace over the 6.2 miles and felt pretty good about that. I don't think I could have finished the whole thing much faster, but my energy levels were fine the rest of the day, so I probably could have held that effort longer. Since that's the eventual goal, I'm happy with it.
Week 19
Grant writing class and the approach of lab-joining decision day made this week really stressful; I think I averaged 5.5 hours of sleep a night. I only made it to the pool once, but I got my weekday bikes and runs in just fine. On Saturday Sarah and I headed down to Utah Lake so I could practice swimming in my wetsuit. I borrowed that kayak mentioned in week 17 and she paddled around next to me so I could hang out, calm down, and warm my hands and feet up a little. The water had been 52 degrees the week before I got in, but it snowed on Friday, so it might have been a little colder my then. At least I'm hoping it was colder, because I could only stand it for about 20 minutes before I was too cold and had to get out. After initially getting in the water and hyperventilating because of the temperature and feeling somewhat constricted in my wetsuit, I did okay. I could pick a dock or other destination about 20 yards away and swim to it without feeling panicked. It wasn't much of a workout, but I think it boosted my confidence for at least the swim portion of my half Ironman in Vegas in 2 weeks. I ended up taking the rest of Saturday as my rest day; I was cold and stressed out about getting things done. Today (Sunday) I'll go for a 4 hour bike ride (about 60 miles) towards the Great Salt Lake Marina and follow it up with a 45 minute run (about 6 miles).
Week 17
Things really seemed to come together this week. I met someone who works in a lab on the floor as me who offered me the use of his kayak to practice open water swimming, someone else who's done several Ironmen (including CdA) offered to actually do some open water swimming with me, and on Friday I met a group of people at the pool all training for Ironman CdA. I was with them for part of my workout and was pretty shocked at how different it was to swim right behind somebody. I swam harder than I normally do by myself and while I still had a hard time keeping up, I didn't get lapped and I didn't feel like I was in anyone's way. I'll probably try to swim with them a couple more times if it works in my schedule.
Week 18
I felt a little down this week. I was technically tapering for a mock Olympic length race (that I did by myself on a course I made up) but I was lacking in motivation and didn't swim all week. I had a hard time pushing myself to finish my rides and runs, and for the first time I started to worry that I wouldn't have the mental strength to finish an Ironman. In spite of those things my "race" went pretty well. I got up at 4 to have a bowl of oatmeal, went back to bed for an hour and got back up and started swimming at 6:15. I showered quickly before getting on my bike so I wouldn't be all itchy and smelling like chlorine, and I had to take my bike off my roof rack, so my transitions were very different than they'd be in an actual race. There was a fierce headwind on the way out on the bike, so it took me more than an hour to get to my turn-around point (12 miles) when I had hoped it would take me more like 45 minutes. There was also more climbing on the ride out; that, coupled with the wind was pretty disheartening and made me wonder how I'd be able to finish 112 miles in a couple of months. The way back felt much better though, and I started to feel pretty optimistic, until I got a flat tire with 5 miles left. I hadn't practiced changing one since October, so it took me 20 minutes, but I did it all by myself despite numerous offers of help from people running or riding past. The run part of the "race" felt alright, my legs were definitely tired and it didn't help that the entire route was either uphill or downhill but fighting the wind. I still averaged an 8:13 pace over the 6.2 miles and felt pretty good about that. I don't think I could have finished the whole thing much faster, but my energy levels were fine the rest of the day, so I probably could have held that effort longer. Since that's the eventual goal, I'm happy with it.
Week 19
Grant writing class and the approach of lab-joining decision day made this week really stressful; I think I averaged 5.5 hours of sleep a night. I only made it to the pool once, but I got my weekday bikes and runs in just fine. On Saturday Sarah and I headed down to Utah Lake so I could practice swimming in my wetsuit. I borrowed that kayak mentioned in week 17 and she paddled around next to me so I could hang out, calm down, and warm my hands and feet up a little. The water had been 52 degrees the week before I got in, but it snowed on Friday, so it might have been a little colder my then. At least I'm hoping it was colder, because I could only stand it for about 20 minutes before I was too cold and had to get out. After initially getting in the water and hyperventilating because of the temperature and feeling somewhat constricted in my wetsuit, I did okay. I could pick a dock or other destination about 20 yards away and swim to it without feeling panicked. It wasn't much of a workout, but I think it boosted my confidence for at least the swim portion of my half Ironman in Vegas in 2 weeks. I ended up taking the rest of Saturday as my rest day; I was cold and stressed out about getting things done. Today (Sunday) I'll go for a 4 hour bike ride (about 60 miles) towards the Great Salt Lake Marina and follow it up with a 45 minute run (about 6 miles).
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| Stella - looking like a badass. |
Love the pic!!! and totally agree. Really glad Stella is still with you. xo
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