I'm and Ironman!!!....Now what?

It's been 2 months since I became an Ironman and it still feels incredible.  I still cannot get over how well that day went and the people I saw during the course of the day.  So many familiar faces from my past seemed to have popped up out of nowhere along that race course.  But, as I continue to come down from that high, I am faced with a new set of challenges.  Mainly, what do I do now?  Where do I find motivation?  What new challenges await me in the coming year?

I have had to spend these past 2 months reflecting on these very questions.  While I still need more time to fully answer each of these questions, I do have a fairly good idea of where I am heading.  For one, planning for the upcoming wedding will keep me going as I get ready to start the rest of my life with my beautiful bride to be.  For that reason, I will be taking next year off from Iron distance racing.  It will be good for my body to take a year off from the rigors of that since I have spent the last 3 years competing and training in them.  I know my clubbed foot will appreciate it.  I also know a special someone who will be pleased to not have to plan her entire summer free time around a single race that I'm doing.

So what do I do now?  Well, my plan is to get back into training in the coming week.  I will focus mainly on core and strength work for the rest of this month and begin to add Cardio work in December.  I will definitely continue to compete in triathlons but will max out with an olympic distance, nothing higher.  Still working out which ones I would like to do so stay tuned on that.  So that's all I have planned at least in the near future.  As for farther down the road, I'm thinking of getting more experienced in triathlon, becoming a certified tri coach, and POSSIBLY doing a few more Half Ironmans and another Full Ironman.  If there is another full in my future it will be only when I have become a father to children old enough to understand the magnitude of it.  They would be the ultimate motivation.

Where do I find my motivation?  I will focus on looking as fit as possible for the upcoming wedding.  That in itself will be my motivator over this winter.  Another big motivator for me is making sure I stave off any possible seasonal depression that might want to rear its ugly head.  These will be my biggest motivators going forward in the next year with more surely to come.

What new challenges await me?  It's hard to say.  The biggest one will understanding that I am not training for an iron distance event, which means I will spend less time on aerobic workouts with long slogs on the pavement to shorter more aggressive workouts.  That will be a new challenge that I hope will make me a more well rounded athlete and help me when I get back into the iron distance races.  The other challenge is changing my diet to ensure I keep my weight down (I really really REALLY like sweets!).

As for goals, those will be for a different post.  In the meantime, I plan on spending some more relaxing time and start getting back into the swing of things.....I really hate the getting back in shape sore body :*(

WOOHOO!  NEW SHOES!!!  Ok I know that isn't as exciting for most people but knowing that I will have more comfort again in my ankles is happiness to me.  I started breaking them yesterday after a two hour long ride in the heat.  Surprisingly, the heat wasn't as detrimental to me as it has been in past workouts.  The ride was solid over all but my butt has developed all kinds of sores from the saddle and bike shorts.  It feels like I'm sitting on needles and sucks!  I know probably too much info but meh, I have no shame.  After the ride, I through on my new shoes and went for a short 1 mile run.  It felt a lil rough at first, as my ankles had stiffened up, but once loose the run felt nice and smooth and enjoyed the extra cushion the shoes were giving me.  Today will be a bigger test for them with a fartlek workout coming for me this afternoon.

One thing that did happen to me on the bike yesterday did make me extremely upset.  While riding and making my turn on the loop I created for myself, I came across and injured rabbit.  He/she had no function of it's rear legs and was crawling and stopping in the middle of the side street where it was.  It made me so incredibly sick to my stomach I ended up heading back to my car and ended the workout.  I didn't know what I could have done for it, I really don't.  I'm an animal lover by nature and hate to see an animal suffering.  With that said, I do understand how nature works and that death and suffering is a common theme but hate it when it comes at the hands of humans who can control, to some degree, their influence on death and suffering.  As you can tell this has really torn me up since yesterday.  Unfortunately, with logging as many bike miles as I have, you see this so much out on the roads.

Switching to more positive things though, my plan in the next few weeks is to head up to the bike course to take part in a supported ride.  My goal is to do the loop twice (+/- 88miles) and really see where I am just under a month out from race day.  I'm excited to get a real taste of the loop and can't wait to beam with confidence after riding it.  I'm also upping my running this week and the next few weeks to gain just a little more strength and confidence in it to compliment my bike.  So there you have it, just gotta keep on training.  53 days......

As of today, we have T minus 2 months until IMWI.  This week's plan is to try and squeeze about 13 hours of training into the week.  Emphasizing the 3 disciplines now but also still working on core strength and leg strength.  The highlight of this week though will be heading up to the course to ride it for the first time, and possibly the only time, this season.  I'm looking forward to it to get a feel for what it will be like but am also concerned about going.  My fear is that, once I get up there, I will struggle with the course and have serious doubts creep into my head about my training up to this point and if there is any time left to prepare more for the race.  So many mind games are being played on me right now.  All of which are my own doing.  Keep you posted on how the workouts this week go and how the ride up in Madison goes....it's going to be a hot week! 

61 Days

Back to the grind this week.  After a fun, relaxing, and yes lazy, 4th of July weekend it's time for me to get refocussed on the task at hand.  The plan this week is to hit all the disciplines harder then I have so far.  120+ miles of cycling, 6000m of swimming, and 18+ miles of running.  My body feels rested and I'm excited to go after it.  I've also been upping my core workouts to help compliment my running and help with protecting my low back during the cycling.  One big issue that I'm running into though is fueling during the bike.  Right around the 2:15 mark on the bike I begin to lose a significant amount of energy and power.  My hope is that Infinit will help cure that issue for me.  We will see come this weekend when I put in my first 4 hour ride.  I'm curious to see where that puts me distance wise but I have to be careful with getting overly excited about the mileage I'll clock.

The one big issue with training around the Northwest suburbs is its all FLAT!  I've been doing some modifying during my training rides to compensate such as riding in tougher gears, riding into headwinds more, etc.  But I know that won't make up for what I will face in Madison.  On the other hand,  With my constant grinding of the pedals on the pavement,  I am not getting the recovery downhills that I will get in Madison.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.  In just over 2 in a half months I will be getting my answer!  66 Days IMWI

Well I am halfway through my recovery week and feel completely like a slug.  Even to do my lighter workouts I have lost motivation.  At the same time, I do realize I need to have these easier weeks but am itching to get back to longer workouts to feel more like I am making gains.  I did also meet with Viktor on Monday to help me with technique stuff regarding lunges, squats and step ups.  For the longest time I thought I was doing them all correctly, I was sadly mistaken.  Now, I am focusing on no weights with these exercises and focusing on proper technique and am getting the same type of soreness which is good.

We are now roughly 73 days out until Madison and I'm slowly becoming a greater mixed bag of emotions.  The worries about not training enough are beginning to creep in, the concerns about race weight are worrying, and the worries about the possibility of a "breakdown" are always present.  At the same time, my excitement and anticipation levels are going up every day and I find myself checking the website daily for any new updates to the Madison page on Ironman to start planning out that entire week and weekend.  Everyone continues to be super supportive even if they don't really understand what I am going through during this preparation.  Just 73 more days.......73 more days......

The days seem to be flying by right now.  The past two weeks have been a blur with logging above 12 hours a week of training.  I am becoming physically spent.  I'm finding myself waking up only to think of all the training I have in front of me for that day.  On the upside, every time I have worked out these past two weeks I have felt amazing during and after them.  Am I sore? yes.  Do I crash the moment I get home? yes.  Am I getting more excited with each passing day? OH HELL YES!  Even with the longer hours I've been spending training, seeing the distances I am massing at the end of the each week is incredibly motivating.

Last week, I managed to log over 105 miles on the bike and nearly 17 miles running and 6000 yards swimming.  This week, my plan is to start surpassing the iron distance mileage for my total bike miles of the week and maintain my running distance and swimming distance.  This week will be another long week but I have the recovery week next week to look forward to and motivate me to really push hard this week to get to that nice easy recovery week.  With so much extra time I won't know what to do with myself!  Couple other training tidbits to note, the past few weeks I've begun a new weight training program and have noticed a huge difference in my run.  The emphasis has been on leg, butt, and low back and I'm noticing a lot more power being generated from my strides.  Beginning this week though, I am forcing myself to finally place some emphasis on core training hoping that will improve my run and swim even more.  It's a busy week and hopefully sleep will be involved!

So much updating to get through so here it goes.....

We are now T-minus 4 months and counting to IMWI.  The excitement has finally started to build for me more now that the weather is getting nicer and I can move a few workouts outdoors.  The past few weeks have definitely been a struggle though.  For one, 3 weeks ago, I completely lost all motivation to work out at all.  I was cutting workouts short or skipping them outright or modifying them to ease up on them.  It was not a pretty sight and my attitude was definitely being affected.  In hindsight, it may have been that I was slowly starting to get sick and my illness didn't hit me hard until 2 weeks ago.  2 weeks ago I woke up Monday morning with an extremely terrible sore throat, felt groggy, sore, and my head felt like it was blowing up like a balloon.  I was miserable for about 3 days before things finally started to subside.  Things finally picked up the second half of the week but by then I was in full recovery mode.  So you can say that week was a total wash as well.

This all led to last week.  Last week I was able to finally get back into the swing of things but it was definitely a struggle.  I hadn't lost all my fitness but workouts I had been able to handle and go beyond were serious struggles for me.  By the end of last week I was too worn out to muster the energy to log my long ride and long run so I scratched those off the training plan.  Probably not something most triathletes would do but I was trying to be honest with myself and allowing my body to recover and get acclimated to heavy training loads that are coming.

So now this week so far has been outstanding with workouts.  My ankles are extremely sore from a pace variation work that I logged yesterday but I will say that my swim workout was better then I expected now that I am dedicated one of the swims to stroke work to mix it up.  My first bike of this week felt really good as well and am enjoying the greater structure of the rides more then just straight rides like some of them had been.  As for the rest of this week, my plan this afternoon is to do a full body TRX workout, coach, then head home and get about an hour bike ride in focusing on heavy hill work.  I figure 4 months out is about the right time to begin prepping specifically for the walls that IMWI course call hills.  So there you have it, time to get back to the grind.