Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {Week 19}

One week (less at this point) to go. Yay. 

It was a solid week of taper. Had planned on more like 10-11 hours but had to take a rest day.  I’m happy with everything and ready for Sunday and to have my life (and our life) back again. 

I’m busy with work and home and feel stretched thin. Thank you Ironman taper/tiredness. I still cry at random stuff. But it is getting better as I get more rest. 

My weight is in a good place- I’ve lost 8lbs since starting training 19 weeks ago. I did weigh myself on a particularly fluffy feeling day to have a bigger loss. I don’t reward myself with food for completing workouts. I’m so happy to have not gained weight like last time. I still crave red meat. I’m still probably deficient in iron and B vitamins. 

Low lights:

I didn’t swim.  Time ran out. With our MRC Run And spectating the marathon- I couldn’t go on the weekend. And I have reservations of going at night. I’ll be fine. 

Decided on my kit- and wore that for my last ride. CB approves. 

Highlights:

I’m getting more sleep. Averaging 6+ almost 7 now instead of 5.5 like prior weeks. I took a rest day Sunday (should have cycled/run for an hour each) but stood on my feet spectating the marathon for 6 hours, so that has to count towards something. Unfortunately there isn’t a metric to quantify exactly what the impact was. Ha

Chicago 10 mile photos- they made me smile. They were free! I loved these 2. My typical staring off into the clouds/I want to be done face late in the race, and midway huffing and puffing. 

Our MRC Run on Saturday was amazing! We had people from Russia, San Diego, Trinidad, Liverpool, London, Copenhagen And of course Chicago. It was so wonderful to meet so many new people. 

And it was great to see old friends who were in town for the marathon. 

Sunday I stood at mile 3 for a bit while L went to vote in the brasilian elections. It was great seeing people so fresh and happy so early in the race. 

Seeing Sir Mo killing it at mile 23. We watched the replay when we got home and his closing kick was pure fire. 

I was very excited to see Gwen. She’s put herself out there declaring how she wants Olympic gold in the marathon after winning gold in the triathlon in Rio. She didn’t have a great day unfortunately. 

Looking forward: I need to pack up all my crap for the race. We are driving, so I can take extra things like jackets and not worry that I’m running out of carry on space. I’ve checked the weather a few times now to start getting an idea of what I’ll need for the bike and run. (Rain gear) 

I’m really excited to see J and G on Friday. And I’m excited to eat really good food and experience Louisville in a few days. 

To do list:

•make a list of everything I need to pack

•pack everything 

•check what I’ve packed 10x

•swim, if time permits

•visualize how I want the race to go 

•write down my bike nutrition plan

•get the boys ready for boarding 

Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {Week 18}

18 weeks down, 2 weeks to go!

Thoughts:

It was a solid week of training. I didn’t  swim. I’m not terribly concerned. I felt pretty good over all and am starting to see everything come together for October 14. 

I feel more confident about my bike nutrition after talking to Jill. I experienced a setback with my plans and have decided to not let it be an issue on race day. I’ll be getting my calories solely from liquids on the bike. I just need to figure out how to carry the powder for my drink mix. 

Low lights:

Sleep. The most sleep I’ve gotten in a while came the night of the 10 miler. I’m tired. I’m cranky. I’m overly emotional. Sleep will be a priority during the next 2 weeks.  Sleep > an hour workout. 

Highlights:

September monthly totals! I was surprised to have run over 200 miles!

Running a “PR” at  the Chicago 10 Mile on Saturday. 

I’m super excited where my fitness is despite no speedwork. 

Running with Ze before the sunrise on Friday. He’s so much fun. 

Waking up to the dogs being very interested in something on our bedroom window - which turned ot to be a bird seemingly stuck to our screen. I took a shower and thought about how to free it- but when I got out it was gone. 

Another bird visitor to our balcony- this guy was big and colorful. 

Trying another Louisville bourbon. 

Spending time with this goof. We’ve been letting him out of his crate for longer stretches while we are home and he’s finally starting to chill out and not go 100% crazy play ball mode the entire time. 

Fried bologna sandwich at Marz on Sunday. Hit the spot hard. 

I’m still craving red meat. I must be defeicient in iron. 

One of several Marz beers I had. All delicious. It’s one of my favorite breweries in Chicago. 

Enjoying park time with the boys. 

Looking forward:

•Start making a packing list for next week (!!!!!)

•reset my garmin to beep every 10 min on the bike so I remember to drink (thanks Jill!)

•be confident with my bike nutrition

•OWS? 

•select my run outfit

•average closer to 7 hours sleep a night. Should be easier since most of my weekly workouts are around an hour. 

•seeing so many friends this coming weekend for the marathon!

13 days to go!!!! 

Chicago 10 Mile 2018 {Race Recap}

We ran the inaugural Chicago 10 mile yesterday put on by IMF Manufacturing. In June, we ran their Chicago 10k  and had a lot of fun so when we got an email to register for a decent price, we signed up. 

1:13:42***  {more on this below}

1st of 35 AG

4th woman of 202

22nd of 353 overall

We woke up around 5:30 and got ready to head to DuSable harbor for the 8am start. It was a gorgeous day- high 40’s, light wind, low dew point. Basically the racing conditions I’ve dreamt of for a while. 

The boys helped me make sure I had everything. 

We got to the race start and hung out a bit and waited for our MRC friends to show up. The atmosphere was chill as this was going to be a smaller race- less than 400 people. 

L was especially excited to run this race as redemption for the boiling hot solider field 10 in May. 

My “goals” for the race were mainly to: have fun, and keep a steady moderately hard effort. I already had run 33 miles and cycled 2:30 by Saturday morning.  My legs were tired (have been tired for a while, thanks Ironman training!) so I didn’t want to hold myself to an unrealistic pace expectation. My 10 Mile PR from the solider field 10 in 2013 was 1:17:33- avg 7:45 pace and I thought it would be nice  to beat that if possible. 

I lined up at the front. There were a few fast guys and a couple of fast women- and I thought for a second that I’d possibly have a shot at top 3 (and an award!). This field was definitely not as deep as most other Chicago races. 

Soon it was go time and I took off. First mile around 7;00. Oops. I backed off slightly to be around 7:3x 

I haven’t done any consistent speedwork the past 18 weeks- just a couple of workouts including 800’s and balls out miles with Ze on the path- so I knew 7:0x was a completely unrealistic pace to maintain. 

I was top 3 woman until around mile 3 when a girl passed me. I trailed her by about 20 seconds until Mile 6, and then she kicked it into overdrive and I just stayed at my effort. I didn’t want to over do it with 2 weeks to go until the Ironman. 

I had a lot of fun running out on the path- it was less congested than I thought it would be due to the marathon groups and cyclists. I actually found myself running by myself for most of the race. It spread out nicely. 

Or squad rolls deep. 🍻🖤

At the turnaround I thought about picking up the pace a little, but decided to stay at the effort I had set earlier- I was completely happy running 7:3x’s and getting a PR, and feeling good. 

It was awesome seeing friends from runclub and giving side fives to them on the course. 

It was also cool to hear multiple people tell me “congrats you’re in 4th and not far behind 3rd.”

Yeah-3rd place took off at some point and I never saw her again. Ha. 

I stopped to walk through water stations so I could drink water from the plastic cups. I didn’t bring a bottle like I usually do, and I was thirsty AF. 

As I was approaching the finish, I knew the course would likely be short***  I trotted into the finish, lapped my garmin (9.75 Miles)*** got my medal, grabbed a water and did what any other crazy runner would do- I  did a quick cooldown around the field to reach 10 miles. 

We stayed and spectated and cheered for all of our runners to finish. 

Everyone seemed to have a great day! L smashed his PB*** by a ton. Averaging 8:30’s!!

We decided to get tacos at Cruz Blanca post race. Easy enough, right? Just walk to the green line, then walk to tacos. We waited 7 min for the train, and then got stuck at lake/LaSalle due to bridges being up, a sick passenger, and construction. An hour later (on a trip that should have taken 25 minutes) we arrived at Cruz Blanca to find the entire block had lost power. 

They were able to pour beers while we waited for them to get their systems back up and running. 

It wasn’t long before we had food along with our drinks. 

We went to Ballast Point for more beers and had a good time talking with friends. 

*** on my 1:13:42 (avg pace 7:22) 

The first mile marker measured .9 to my garmin. And while I know the garmin is a tool, and not a be all end all, it is usually accurate enough on the lakefront due to not having many obstructions. 

Each mile came up short vs my garmin. And the gap grew by the later miles in the race where it was measuring close to .25 short. I had hoped there would be a loop or something near the end to compensate , but sadly there wasn’t. 

I crossed the finish with a smile despite it being .25ish short. I figured the recent construction on the path probably contributed to the course being short since they had to change it shortly before race day. 

So yeah. I ran a PR effort-  basically 7:33 pace for 9.75 miles. Which I’m quite happy with given that I’m fatigued and not been doing any speed work. (I’m really excited to start pushing myself again post IM Lou!)I know that averaging low 7:30’s was more plausible than low 7:20’s at my current fitness level.  

I had a lot of fun with friends and running in gorgeous weather to be too upset about the course. I’d probably do this race again next year since I like the medal and shirt design. 

Housekeeping:

Strawberry fruit bar an hour pre race

SiS berry caffeine gel at start, mile 4

What’s next?

Spectating the Chicago marathon next weekend. 

Becoming an Ironman x2 in 2 weeks at Ironman Louisville.