Week 18 - it's getting kinda hectic - Can an Average Runner Become an IRONMAN?

Getting used to this. Making adjustments. Fitting in a lot of family and other fun stuff on the weekend before it gets too hectic.

Sunday – Off!

Monday – I’ve not done well the past two Mondays, so I wanted to get the run/long swim combo in. After 10 minutes in, I did strides every 10 minutes, was supposed to do every 5 minutes. I wasn’t quite feeling up to every 5 minutes, yet I think I did them a little longer than prescribed.

Swam 6 x 500m (=3000m!) That’s mega long for me. Just did it. Didn’t think about it. My head was sore and I took my swim cap off for the last two sets of 500.

Makes me wonder: Am I just going to get used to bike helmets?? and swim caps?? and and my butt on a bike seat for so long? Because these things are a bit bothersome right now!

The swim session was listed as 60 minutes, but it took me 1 hour, 40 minutes. Yikes. I am going to try to not worry about this and just increase the times by 1.5 in my calendar and move forward. = 160 minutes

Tuesday – Cycled 60 minutes in the cycling room at the gym. About 15 minutes overlapped with a class. I’ve become fine with just coming into classes super late. I’ve talked to this instructor too, and he says it’s okay by him. I’m making it work.

Followed the cycling with a 45-minute run. I did on the inside track, and it felt good. = 105 minutes

Wednesday – Kevin (hubby) took kids to school and gave me the few extra minutes needed to get in the swim session before I needed to leave for a luncheon in the burbs.

Wu – 250m easy

Main – 4 x 400m

Cd – 200m easy

Did cool down all bilateral no problem! = 65 minutes

Thursday – Ran 90 minutes outside. Damp, got drizzled on some, yet rain held off! In second half, did 20-second strides every 5 minutes. Average 10:12. Got lost in the flow and my mind at one point and missed one of the strides, and I did 30 seconds the next time to make up for it. = 90 minutes

Friday – Swim session:

Wu – 300m

Main – 20 x 50m; odds RPE4, evens RPE9

Cd – 150m

Went well!

90-minute bike ride. Did bike ride outside on lake front. Busy on a nice Friday afternoon. Wow, are people unsafe.

Two sets of parents must think their strollers have a magic bubble around them.

Then quite a few young gals (I hate to say) are riding along on their phones without their headphones in. One along the center line couldn’t hear me “on your left” ing. Another completely oblivious to an intersection. Wow, I hope they stay safe. = 120 minutes

Saturday – 2-hour bike ride on schedule. With all we had planned on weekend, there was only one block of time to do it one Saturday afternoon.

Saturday morning I had my daughter’s martial arts belt testing. Then had a Target run slated Saturday noonish to get a birthday gift for son’s party the next morning. Saturday night date night. Sunday morning I was picking up kids from their cousins’ house, then taking my son to birthday party. Followed up by a late lunch with girlfriends in the burbs Sunday afternoon.

Saturday, after Target, had no desire to go down stairs and ride for 2 hours on the trainer, and I didn’t. I figured last weekend’s biking on the Ironman Wisconsin course would cover it.

Thought about how to not let this happen again:

Want to work out first thing in the morning as often as possible
It’s unusual for my daughter to have belt testing
Won’t have weekends with both a date night and afternoon with friends in the future.

This will be cut down in next couple of months. Unfortunately, there will be very little time with friends (they are busy with summer anyways!)

Okay, Feel like I’m on top of how to avoid this in the future.

With marathon training, you schedule your whole life around weekend long runs. With Ironman training, there’s just stuff all the time.

Preview – I did fit in two hours of cycling on Sunday, not consecutively, but I logged 120 minutes!

TOTAL = 540 minutes = 9 hours