Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Mid-July Update

Ok so I've been a little distracted over the last few weeks. Ironman training has still been first priority, but who has time to blog when they're doing projects like these:

Painting stairs

Putting in a ceiling fan

Updating the kitchen

Or redoing the porch

Seriously, by the fall we may be broke, but our house will look amazing! Haha

Anyway, over the last few weeks, we have upped our swimming to get at least 3000 meters in once or twice a week (and at least one shorter swim), and we've been getting at least an hour of running or biking a few times a week on top of our long workouts.

Two weeks ago we were soooo pooped that we took a weekend to "take it easy" and do a 50 mile ride with a 20 minute run. What a relief to be done with our "long" workout by noon. HA! A few months ago, this WAS our long workout!

I think that weekend was enough to refresh us as we take to our last few LONG workouts (we did one Sunday and have two more to go) before we begin to taper off. Of course, after we took an easy weekend, my upper back decided to start hurting, and it "talked to me" every time I rotated my midsection or moved my left arm... So I took two days off.

Anyway, our last brick workout went pretty well--we did 90 miles on the bike and a 60 minute run. We headed out to our Davidsonville, MD ride-- the place where we've done 80 mile rides. The night before, I had rerouted the end of the 80 miler to add on 10 milers and navigated around some of the extreme hills that we faced at the end of the ride. SO, we headed out and got to our ride. The first few hours almost seemed easy. If it weren't for my funky shoulder/upper back issue, I'd almost call the ride relaxing. I didn't start to feel tired until the last 15 miles or so (the new addition). We went through a much busier part of the city--read lots of cars and stop lights, and then onto a nice long stretch on grooved road (again?!).

By the time we got back to the car, I was so ready to be done biking that I threw on my shoes and flew out of the parking lot on foot. I took a bottle of Gatorade and a Gu with me. Brian took off a little behind me armed with a Gu and a water bottle.

I followed a very strict plan of having a few gulps of Gatorade every 5 minutes. Once I got halfway through the run, I opened my gu and took little slurps every 2 minutes until it was gone. By no means wax it easy, but I was getting it done. About 8 minutes before I finished the run, I passed Brian. At first, I thought nothing of it-- he's usually a little slower than me--but as I passed I realized he should be farther in front of me since we were just running out and back for time.

I offered him some Gatorade, and he gulped some while telling me he might pass out. As I slowed to run with him he pushed me on saying he'll be fine ("really? A few seconds ago, you said you were getting tunnel vision and might pass out"). But on I went, knowing that if he didn't show up right behind me, I could drive back over with our stock pile of water bottles and Gus.
I finished within seconds of the hour which meant that I kept a fairly even pace despite the mostly downhill first half of the run. I waited a few minutes for Brian, and just as I started to get in the car to go looking for him, he came around the corner and ran to the car. Phew!!

We think he needs to take a second look on his nutrition on the bike and take in some more electrolytes too. Also, Brian said he put on a t-shirt that was a little too thick for the 90 something heat we were running in.

He took this run as a wake up call. Of course he thought this run meant he wasn't ready for the ironman. Ridiculous, I know, but it is hard to believe that we have to add another 3 hours of running onto the hour we did--not to mention more biking and a while swim!!


Next workout will be 100 mile ride with a 70-75 min run. I'm a little nervous about it, but once it's done, I'll be that much more confident for the ironman. I also plan on getting in a 2 hour 45 min run this weekend. After a hard 2hr 30 min run yesterday, I decided I needed to get up to around 3 hours to prepare for the longest marathon I've ever run.

I haven't put in too many pictures of our training. Mostly, we look like we just got in a fight when we're done. Next weekend, I plan on taking some before and after shots. HA! You'll love them. I know you're excited!!!

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