Monday, August 27, 2018

Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {week 13}

Weekly training totals:

Run: 21.76 miles, 3:10.47 hours
Bike: 70.55 miles, 3:53.44 hours
Swim: 0

Rando fireworks from a private event at soldier field.

Thoughts:

On balance - I saw an interview recently a woman author (and mother)  who was asked “how she balances it all?”  Her response was something along the line of “until men are asked that same question, I refuse to answer.” Simply amazing. 

  “Balancing it all” is some cliche BS Buzz phrase  Going around the web now which only affects women. L has never been asked how he balances anything. But there’s plenty of books pandering to women on how to “balance” their lives (although I wonder how that looks because there wouldn’t be a “one size fits all” balance model) Spoiler alert: balance doesn’t exist. Life is more of an ebb and flow of compromise and prioritization. 

Yeah, training for 140.6 is the direct opposite of “balance.” IM training takes a lot of compromise for everyone directly impacted, as well as understanding. I don’t balance being a wife/dog mom of 2/ work 47+ hours a week. Some things absolutely suffer, I cut my losses and move on. I just prioritize and get shit done. The floor might not be swept every day, but there’s delicious food to eat for dinner that I cook each night. I love cooking. 

That’s my “secret/hack” whatever. You now owe me $19.99. At least I saved you from buying a terrible book.  

Marathon training is a piece of cake compared to this. 

Highlights: 

Going to Columbus for Brewdog’s Annual General Mayhem!

Workout wise, feeling good on my workouts and catching up on recovery (sleep).


Low lights:

Not swimming- I miss it!

Missing my long ride and run (that is what Monday is for!)

Summary:

Ran with Ze outside and ran into L which was nice. 

Running in Columbus. We took an Uber to a local park because according to google, there would be decent trails- like crushed limestone/boardwalk whatever. The Uber driver warned us about the geese being super aggressive. 

When we got there we saw this: 

Too much nature! Ha ha ha we broke (L actually) many many spider webs and we ran through mud. We weren’t prepared  for those kind of trails so we stopped around 3 miles.  

It was really pretty though. 

We took an Uber back to BrewDog (where once again the driver warned us about the aggressive geese) and enjoyed lunch and post run beer on the patio. 

Later that night we went to the AGM picnic and met James and Martin of BrewDog 

We got to take a brewery tour and also take a tour of their new hotel, doghouse. 

Beer on tap and shower beer in every room! Sign us up for our next visit!


It was a fun night. 

The next morning we ran again, but found a more user friendly trail to run on. More smiles, less spiders!


We met up with A and T for Annual General Mayhem. Live music like LovelytheBand, and beer with great people!

We took a break from AGM to try a local delicacy: Skyline Chili. 

It hit the spot hard! Look at that cheese!

We went back to AGM and enjoyed hearing Cold War Kids perform. It was amazing. 

Perfect end to a great weekend. 

We got home early Sunday, collected the dogs and relaxed at home. I harvested a bunch of peppers and threw them in the dehydrator. 


Looking forward:

Push through these next 7 weeks. OWS, long ride, long run. Only really like 5 more big weeks not including game day. 

I’m thankful L supports me with this hobby jogger/shitty triathlete stuff. I don’t feel bad about missing some workouts this past weekend because I need to keep him happy/get more sleep. I feel refreshed and ready to smash the rest of this training cycle. 

48 days to go. 🙃😢😭🤮




Monday, August 20, 2018

Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {week 12}

Weekly training totals:

Run: 25.43  miles, 3:55:57 hours
Bike: 115.38 miles, 6:45.04 hours
Swim: 1800 yards (1.02 miles) 39:24 minutes


Highlights:

Getting to work in with Anne and Ze before work on a Wednesday! It was so nice to see her and catch up. Ze was super happy to make a new friend too. 

Swimming! 

I was short on time but did a mile in just under 40 min, which was about 20-30 seconds per 100 faster than last week. My endurance is there and I feel like I could go on for a while. I worked on not lifting my arms up too much and it seemed to make a difference.   

I think I’ll start wearing my two piece bathing suit to the pool because I feel like a stuffed sausage in my one piece. I know it’s supposed to be snug, but I can’t stand it. And if Louisville isn’t wetsuit legal, I’ll wear a sports bra and tri shorts for the swim. 

Low lights:

I feel tired all the time. I wake up at 4am almost every day (4:30 when I sleep in!) I guess if I wasn’t feeling tired or a little fatigued 12 weeks into training something would be wrong.  Friday morning I felt kind of sick/off when I woke up so I ditched my run. I am surprised at how apathetic I feel towards missing workouts. If I was training for 13.1 or 26.2, I would be pissed to miss a workout. Currently I rationalize it as one hour missed won’t kill me especially if I need sleep more. There’s always a long run or ride around the corner and one workout won’t hinder my ability to finish this race. 97% of finishing an Ironman is the mental aspect to tell yourself to just keep moving. 

Another low light is time, and the lack of it. I try to make every minute count every day, but sometimes there’s just too much to fit in. This weekend we had a lot of stuff to do and I wasn’t able to get a decent longish run in. (There’s always Monday!)  But this coming week we have weekend plans too, so I need to shuffle around everything so I can slay a majority of my workouts. IM training is exhausting but worth it. 

The  boys have been good. They are able to relax in different parts of the house at the same time so that’s a huge improvement compared to when one wouldn’t let the other relax with a bone. 

I finally drank some wine and used the cool glass Kim got me for my birthday! 

Basic AF photo with my oat beverage latte from a brand new place near my work. Thank you caffeine for sponsoring this post. 

Ze had a vet visit on Saturday to get 4 vaccinations. He loves the vet and everyone he meets. I’m not used to him being so outgoing because CB is the complete opposite. 

We went to Half Acre’s Big North festival on Saturday. It was so much fun to hear live music and drink beer with friends. 

This guy showed up 2x to our balcony this weekend. I think it’s a juvenile cardinal. I wonder if it’s the child of the super derpy cardinal who lives on the street behind us who is obsessed with his reflection in car mirrors. I feel bad for him if he’s looking for a mate. 

Sunday morning my run club met up to run to Cruz Blanca and Ballast Point. We had a visitor from the Mikkeller Running Club Paris chapter join us which was awesome. I cannot say enough how much I love this run club and how it brings people together. 


Looking forward

•Amend my workouts for this week due to our weekend plans

•swim again. The lake was super choppy this weekend so I’m glad to have gone to the pool. 

•running intervals

•continue with Zwift Academy workouts. 

•cook some new recipes 

Monday, August 13, 2018

Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {week 11}

Week 11 totals:




Run: 40.06 miles, 5:39:56 hours
Bike: 118.41 miles, 7:17:11 hours
Swim: 2200 yards (1.25 miles) 53:51 minutes

Training Cycle totals (start May 28)

Run: 303.45 miles, 43:27 hours
Bike: 1048.67 miles, 65:16 hours
Swim: 2200 yards (1.25 miles) 53:51 minutes



Highlights:

Finally going for a swim! I don’t know what my problem has been (being sick for 3 weeks didn’t help, can’t speak for the previous 6) but once I was there I felt great.  




Being more than halfway with training is awesome. To know we only have 9 weeks left is amazing! I’m literally counting down the days until I have my weekends back again. During the week my workouts are generally the same duration for whatever I’m training for- like 1:15 a day. The weekend training for Ironman is ridiculously time consuming. This weekend I spent nearly 9 hours working out. 

Low lights: 

Can’t think of any for this week. Woot woot. 

Thoughts:

I finally feel much better about the IM, and much more excited too. Having a solid swim has pumped up my confidence that I will have a great day in Louisville. I was concerned about the swim- but when I got into the pool on Saturday, I just started swimming and kept going. I had been worried I’d freak out or have difficulty breathing, but I felt at home. 




I’d like to believe I’m making progress on the bike. I signed up for Zwift academy (free) and set my goal to grand fondo (100-200k ride goal). Now Zwift gives me workouts to do each week which will help me achieve a more solid ride for the IM. I’ve done 3 workouts this week for ZA including ramp ups, a long tempo and low gear spin work. 



Another cool thing about Zwift is that I completed all 7 stages of the SiS Tour de Oz in July- and for that I received 30 free SiS gels, And the opportunity to purchase the real life kit that we wore in the virtual tour. I’m seriously hooked on Zwift. It saves me a bunch of time  to ride inside, and is much safer than if I rode outside. 

On Baking bread:

It’s been a tradition for me to buy a cook book when I visit places- so when we were at the airport leaving Copenhagen in May, I picked up this baking book by Claus Meyer. I had never been into baking previously, but the thought of making my own bread sounded interesting. 

I started by making a starter. Happy Birthday, starter! You’re one month old!

I’ve been making Øland wheat loaves the past few weeks. 

I love the process of refreshing the starter, and then mixing the dough the next morning and seeing it come alive. 

CB dog approves. 

This week I’ll be making 2 loaves in tins instead of a free form loaf. I figured it would be easier for sandwiches and just as tasty. 

I am absolutely obsessed with this wheat bread. It’s got a nice crust and inside it is perfect. It has a great flavor too. I need to select another recipe to try soon- maybe a luxurious dough to make cinnamon bread?

Balcony Pepper Garden:

We decided this year to have 6 pepper plans to grow on our balcony. We love the YouTube show called “Hot Ones” where host Sean Evans interviews celebrities while eating increasingly hot wings. We are now very much into hot sauce and figured the next logistical step would be to grow our own peppers. 

Long gold peppers are C. baccatum. Fairly spicy but good flavor. 

This spooky pair are Carolina reapers. The hottest pepper in the world. 

This guy is Trinidad Scorpion- also a former record holder of hottest pepper in the world.  

This last one is a Brazilian Beak Pepper. They are Smokey and have a little kick. I’ll turn these into a relish or pickle them. 

{not pictured are the habanero red sauvin and the sweet non spicy Frigatello) 

The super hot peppers will be dehydrated to make pepper dust to sprinkle on food. Maybe I’ll also try making a hot sauce. 

We also have a planter full of wild flowers- currently the only ones blooming are the Uber exotic, marigold plant :)

Looking forward:

I’m getting increasingly excited about completing my second Ironman. I’ve been putting in the work (minus swimming until this week) and just didn’t feel good about it. Now I have an extra pep in my step towards this race. 

I’ll try to get to the lake to do an open water swim this week. If not, I’ll hit the pool again. 

Zwift academy will help with my short days when I need higher intensity workouts on the bike. 

I’ll also mix in some intervals this week for running. I’d like to leave this training cycle in a place that enables me to chase some massive running PRs for 2019. 

The boys have been great this week. 

For #goalz2018 I’m currently at 33/52 new to me recipes. My latest creation was pickling peppers from my balcony. I’ve never pickled peppers before, and now that my peppers are starting to mature at the same time, I need to figure out what to do with them so they don’t go to waste. The extremely hot peppers- the Carolina reaper, Trinidad scorpion and habanero sauvin will be dried in the dehydrator and made into pepper dust.  A full list of what I’ve made this year is 
{HERE}





63 days to go! 🙃😲😂😭🤮


Monday, August 6, 2018

Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {week 10} aka 2 rivers century

Week 10 totals:

Run: 27.15 miles, 3:45.30 hours
Bike: 167.35 miles, 10:30 hours
Swim: 0 

Training Cycle totals (start May 28)

Run: 263.39 miles, 37:47 hours
Bike: 930.26 miles, 57.59 hours
Swim: 0 


Highlights:

Completing my 3rd century! 

Low lights: 

Not swimming. I’ve had a dry cough ever since I got sick 3 weeks ago. I decided it wasn’t worth it to have a coughing fit in the middle of the lake or pool. Been there, done that and don’t ever feel the need to tread water and cough uncontrollably ever again. There’s always next week. 

Taking CB to the vet late on Monday because his eye had been awful looking during the weekend. We initially thought it was from a spider bite and gave him Benadryl, but when that didn’t help, we knew we had to get him checked out. He was diagnosed with “Horners syndrome” basically a spontaneous facial paralysis which should clear up on its own within a few weeks- months. 

Two rivers century:

I did this same ride in 2016 before IM Wisconsin and enjoyed it a lot.  While riding 100 miles was more than what my plan called for, I wanted to ride a little more and complete the distance for confidence. 

I woke up early and packed Mortadella into the rental and drove an hour down to Kankakee. It’s probably the first time I’ve driven since I did this ride 2 years ago. 

The drive was quick, and I got checked in fast. They are super organized.  The ride consists of multiple different loops which is nice so you’re not riding the same portion more than once. Every 15-20 miles there are rest stops fully stocked with cold water/Gatorade, snacks, smiling volunteers, and PbJ sandwiches. 

I didn’t know anyone else riding, so it was just Mortadella and I for the duration of this ride. 

The course is beautiful.  Not all corn and soybean fields. It crosses the two rivers- Iroquois and Kankakee many times. 

I found myself riding completely alone for most of the ride. It was nice to simulate what the Ironman will be like in 9 weeks since you can’t ride less than 6 bike lengths away. 

Before I started, i made sure to spray sunscreen all over so I wouldn’t be burnt to a crisp.(I also carried the sunscreen with me and reapplied several times)  In the first mile I rode through a huge gnat cloud and suddenly had 100’s of bugs stuck to me for the next 7 hours. 

The first few loops I felt great! I was cruising easily around 17-20mph.  It was encouraging to see my pace improve so much- I owe it all to Zwift trainer rides. 

It was ridiculously hot out. And sunny. And windy. I usually never feel super sweaty but during this ride I was dripping.  
There were long stretches where I was riding into a headwind and my pace slowed to a crawl of around 11-12mph. This was very discouraging. I have no idea what the actual wind speed was, but it was like riding up a 7% hill.  


I felt really good about nutrition during the ride. I would eat half a PbJ sandwich and some cookies at each rest stop- around every hour+. I also drank around 5.5+ liters of electrolytes. Despite all the hydration, I lost 3lbs on this ride. 

More open roads. 

I was so ready to be done around mile 67. The headwind made me so frustrated. 

One thing I noticed was tons of empty beer cans along the road. Driving under the influence is a thing here?

Mile 75 rest stop. I didn’t refill my 2nd bottle and wish I had because this was the last stop before the finish at 103 miles. I got really thirsty after I finished my last 1000ml bottle of cold gatorade. 

Mortadella enjoyed the ride immensely. I’ve been thankful to never have any problems with this bike. 

Smiles at 75 miles. 

One of the two rivers. 

Random sign around mile 90- a contrast to the usual signs in this area. 

Celebratory pic back at the car after 103.86 miles. 

I finished this years ride about 15 minutes slower than I did in 2016. I attribute this to being at a different part of the training cycle- I’m early for 100 right now. But also due to the headwinds. 

I got home and ordered ramen and tried to relax. Ze just wanted to play ball. Typical. 


Looking forward:

Swim. 

Incorporate more intensity/intervals on the bike during my shorter workouts. I don’t want the wind to kill me in Louisville like it did yesterday. 

Research the IM Lou course so I can plan for hydration/food. Basically create a plan for race day nutrition. I find not eating a ton makes me feel best. 

Find one or 2 more outdoor rides before October. 

69 days to go!