A big weekend for training

Well I think I’m finally getting over my cold. Unfortunately the lack of breathing ability has kept me out of the pool now for over a week….and it’s killing me! I always feel like I’m starting over when I haven’t had a chance to swim for this long. But the weather has been great and actually we had two record high 90+ degree days last week so this next week I want to get in the lake asap.

Yesterday needed to be a 3.5 to 4.5 mile bike. TNT was meeting in Afton at 7am but considering how early that meant I would have to get up, I found a training partner to ride with me later in the afternoon when it was warmer. The route took us first from EP to Waconia where I stopped in to see how my fundraising garage sale was doing. As usual Mom was grumbling but things were still being sold. I’ll post pictures of the actual sale setup when I have the final tally to report. After that, the ride took us out to Mayer and then up through Watertown. The route we were following was actually off of MapMyRide but unfortunately east of Watertown the map tried to have us turn onto a dirt road. Thankfully the iPhone map lead us further down the road and still got us safely into Excelsior and then home to EP. All in all about a 60-mile trip. One thing to note….on nice days like this day was….it’s time to start remembering sunscreen! My legs and back of my hands got burnt. Beautiful ride! My legs and lower back and “riding areas” were very much done with riding by time we got back but the training needed to continue with a 20 minute transition run. Not too easy but not terribly difficult either.

Now getting up this morning was a different story. Legs were very tired but a few days ago we happened to find out that MDRA was doing the Mississippi 10-mile on Sunday so for $15 we ran that as our training run. It’s always more fun and motivating to run with a group and fit perfectly into my schedule run time for the day. The first 5 miles weren’t too bad. Heartrate was actually staying down in the mid-150’s which is low for me while running. But at roughly the halfway point the body decided it was done. Climbing this one sort of steep hill coming back I got one of those “my tank is on empty” shivers that ran from my toes to my head and I knew from that point out it was going to be more of a mental run than anything to get to the finish line. It was a very nice course – along the east side of the Mississippi from the Monument, south towards downtown St. Paul and back – all along the parkway trail. Total time was 1:42:00.

I’ve had a few “oh s%&#” moments during my training this weekend where I really started to realize how long Ironman is going to be. One thing I thought of was that we finished up our bike on Saturday around 5:30pm. We started the Mississippi 10-mile Sunday morning at 8am. Approximately 14.5 hours. During that time I took a shower, did laundry, made dinner, watched some TV, slept for 8 hours, got up, had breakfast, drove to St. Paul. That is roughly the timespan I expect it to take me to finish Ironman. Yeah…really think about how long 15 hours is and you’ll understand why I keep having “oh S%&#” moments :)

I’ll leave with this note. This summer is going to be very different for my training. The past few summers I haven’t been very focused on myself and what I want to do. It’s been more about other people. While extremely difficult, I am very glad to clear my mind and my time to be me and spend time doing what I want to do and when I want to do it. Too many hours in the past few summers have been spent NOT enjoying the outdoors and being much to idle physically. Don’t get me wrong I’ve enjoyed having the wind through my hair but ONLY doing that pretty much every weekend was not making me happy. Some people obviously were not getting that, maybe I didn’t voice myself loud enough. But luckily now I have people in my life that really “get it” (I blogged about those that get it and those that don’t awhile back if you need a refresher) I am enjoying my time swimming, biking, cycling (yes there is a difference) running, hiking.

Next adventure will be the Minneapolis Half Marathon next Sunday. Oh but first, Home for Life opens up for sponsor visits again through the summer this Saturday! I am so excited to go visit the animals and especially my Olive. Pictures of course will follow :)

I'm off to bed now. Thank goodness for Memorial Day weekend, I get to sleep in tomorrow!!! Til later…..