What Doesn’t Kill You… |

In the words of my friend Nadine, I’ve officially completed the “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” portion of this Ironman Training.

And I have to admit, I’m glad that it is behind me.

And yet, it is not lost on me that my pain and struggles have been self inflicted. And for that I am grateful. I am grateful that I have the choice to train for Ironman, have found the strength and ability to see myself through all of this training, and will be luckily enough to find myself at the start line of Ironman Lake Placid next Sunday. I am grateful that I have a body that can run 1 mile, let alone allow me to run 26 after biking and swimming. A body that will carry me through the day Sunday. A body that is not revolting against me.

It is not lost on me that I am extremely lucky, especially as I know many in this world, including some friends and family, that struggle with illness and other issues that prevent them from running and doing active things that they love. So I am grateful, and I am blessed for this body.

So, it’s coming to that time to recap, what did Ironman training truly entail?

I’ve successfully finished my five 100+ mile bike rides (4 of which were set up as brick workouts with a run following the completion of the long ride), I’ve trained for my 2.4 mile swim covering that distance and then some in both open water and the pool, and I’ve successfully finished out my running training with a 19 mile run logged to close down the last build in training. I’m now in mid-taper and Ironman Lake Placid is barreling down the pipe. That’s right. As long as there is no crazy and wild curveball thrown, by this time next week I will officially be an Ironman.

It’s pure craziness.

Especially when I think about how much I ~~hated~~ loathed running in high school. When required to run a mile for gym class, I wanted to cry. In fact, I refused to run distance for indoor track… I sprinted (or attempted to) just so I didn’t have to run as long or as far, despite the fact I was terrible at it and my body really is built for a bit more distance (If only my gym teachers, and track coach could see me now… ).

Especially when I remember that I had never run a full 5K without stopping to walk until about 6 years ago when I completed the Iron Girl Triathlon in Syracuse.

Especially when you consider that I wanted to die during my first half marathon, and questioned what I was doing as I ran in my first 70.3 triathlon.

Especially when you consider that I never even considered a full Ironman to be a possibility until about a year ago after I finished my second 70.3.

Especially when I think about all the cold cold early winter mornings and late nights that I spent time in my basement, or my friends basements training (I was renting rooms from various friends in Syracuse this winter so that I could maintain my job and still have a house near my family in Saratoga…). The early mornings shoveling snow from my car to get to the gym to swim… or to run…

Speaking of all the workouts, I thought it would be fun to provide the grand totals that I logged while training for Ironman Lake Placid.

In the past 7 months, to prepare there were:

59 Swimming Sessions
74 Biking Adventures
78 Running Workouts

My total milage for each discipline:

Swimming: 140,680 yards (80 miles)
Biking: 2,314.5 miles
Running: 478 miles

In hours this was:

39.9 Hours of Swimming
157 Hours of Biking (mix of indoor on the trainer and outside)
78.8 Hours of Running

Grand Total:

210 Workouts
2,872.5 miles covered
276 Hours

Really, making it to the start line of an Ironman, trained for the event, uninjured, and mentally ready is a feat in itself. The level of exhaustion experienced during different points of the past few months was pretty impressive as well. Sleeping was no issue, and bedtimes came earlier and earlier in the evening. Also, the mental training that accompanies the physical training was equally intense. There were a couple points on those solo 100 mile+ rides where I was ready to give in. Especially on the occasions when I messed up my nutrition and electrolyte balances. You can find some really dark mental places when you’re out biking on your own hour after hour. Lucky, I was blessed to experience these things in training which has allowed me to prep for just about anything to come my way on race day. It also has allowed me to prove to myself that I can put my head down and persevere even when things get tough.

So, as taper continues and next Sunday nears, I can finally say I am ready. (Or as ready as you can be for a 140.6 mile long race). I am expecting anything and everything to happen on Sunday. It’s Lake Placid, there will likely be rain, there might be sun, there will hopefully be no thunder or lightening – but it could happen. Regardless of what mother nature throws at me, I’m going to take it all in stride knowing there are only a couple things I can control:

1) My attitude <- this race is my party for all the training that I’ve done since January. The training has been done, my fitness level has been established, so it’s all up to enjoying the day on the course with 2,500 of my closest friends. 🙂

2) My nutrition <- my coach made me write my nutrition plan out for every 20 minutes for the entire day. I’m going to follow that thing like a boss… after all, I’ve learned the tough way how much the correct nutrition can make your day, and how much messing up nutrition can break your day. (Luckily, I’ve also learned how to recover if a mistake is made…).

Just about everything else is up for grabs. And I’m so excited to see how this all unfolds!

Lake Placid, I’m ready for you.

Weekly Workouts//

Week of June 29:

Monday – Rest Day
Tuesday – Zone 2 Ride planned… cancelled flight from Philly resulted in me driving home instead of flying. no bueno.
Wednesday – 3100 yard swim
Thursday – 1 hour 45 minute bike planned with Zone 4 efforts – 52 minutes completed before I ended up with a sliced tire and instant flat
Friday – 4000 yard endurance swim ladder
Saturday – 112 mile Bike + 5 mile Run, 8 hours
Sunday – 17.2 mile Run, 3 hours

Week of July 6:

Monday – Day Off
Tuesday – 30 minute Swim + 30 minute Bike
Wednesday – 1 hour, 30 minute bike with Hill Repeats + 20 minute Run
Thursday – 1 hour run planned – due to work travel, this was cancelled
Friday – 4200 endurance swim planned – due to work travel, this was also cancelled.
Saturday – 102 mile bike – in 90 degree heat, learned all about electrolytes today…
Sunday – 19 mile run, 3 hours 15 minutes

Week of July 13: (start of Taper!)

Monday – Day off
Tuesday – 3700 yard Swim
Wednesday – 40 minute tempo run
Thursday – 1 hour 15 minute Bike
Friday – 1200 yard Swim
Saturday – 2 Hour, Zone 1-2 Bike
Sunday – 35 minute Run

Photos//

Work trip… quick out and back to Cleveland. And unfortunately an extension of the trip since my flight back was cancelled… which meant I was driving home. ugh.

My friend for the evening (aka the rental that got me back to my own bed).

Had help putting my board report together. So helpful at such a young age! An epic blowout mid Time-Trial effort… (I know, less than impressive in the picture).

House Project… Before…

After!!

Had to eliminate the carpet since Bronco was allergic to them (go figure), but makes my house feel like a totally different house, I love how they turned out!! A big thanks to my high school friend Craig that installed them for me!

The kitchen counter post long Saturday workout. Water bottles everywhere!

So our church was in need of a new steeple. Our community has been raising funds for a few years now and finally had enough money to start the project. So much fun to watch the building progress!