I have survived 10 weeks of training for my first Ironman 70.3. THAT is crazy. But the weirder thing is I still have 14 more weeks to go. This makes me a little happy and relieved… and also pretty anxious if I’m being honest.
This week I hit a new mileage and time training max and I feel like I really put in an enormous effort to hit them both. It’s hard to imagine putting in even MORE time and MORE miles in the upcoming weeks. (But I know it’s coming.)
It’s hard work racing the clock almost every single morning before work (even if I do get up at 4:30AM). It’s also tough to head to the gym after a long day of work knowing I have another 2 hours of workouts ahead of me and I have 20 other things I need to do that night. AND along those lines it’s also REALLY tough to make the responsible decision and have one glass of wine on a Friday night because you have to be up early the next morning for your long weekend workout. (Anyone else with me on this struggle???) I guess my point is that it’s already super tough balancing life, relationships and work with training for an Ironman. It’s hard work, it’s time management and it’s sacrifice. It’s going to get even tougher in the upcoming weeks, but I’m all in. Here’s to even earlier wake up calls and only seeing my husband for about 1 hour every night LOL. (How do people train for full Ironmans with kids? God bless them.)
Here’s a break down of training week 10:
Total Miles: 84
Total Time Spent Training: Eight hours, twenty eight minutes
This weekend was my first weekend home in three weeks, so I had big plans for Saturday morning, even though the weather was terrible. (Apparently it snowed in some places in Ohio on Sunday, luckily we didn’t see it where we were though.) Despite the crappy weather I got in 30 miles on the spin bike and then 6.5 outside running. I was happy to switch gears and get outside after being on the bike for 2 hours. Overall I felt OK and still felt like I had some gas left in the tank at the end. I plan on doing this workout fairly often because it’s a good distance (and it’s also basically the Olympic distance). It was just under 4 hours after everything was said and done.
Saturday’s Ride
View from the pain cave
I’m taking my bike in for a post-winter hibernation tune up this week and I’m hoping to be able to ride it to work this Friday for National Bike To Work Day. (I’m really looking forward to getting off the spin bike!!)
Last night I slept really crappy and decided to train after work today instead of this morning. I just couldn’t mentally race the clock again and I didn’t feel like rushing around. It’s all good though! I’m headed in for a 5 mile run and then a swim today after work. It’s all about being flexible and moving your training around to fit your life. {Listen to your body – both mentally and physically.}
Happy training week 11!!
She Writes & Runs 
Hi! Thanks for the words of encouragement. I feel like I am on point with my training plan, but I know come race day I will be so nervous that I’ll probably start to question everything haha! I have not been to the venue yet, but I want to! I drove by Delaware, Ohio a few weeks ago during my drive to Columbus and I figured next time I will try to stop by. I’ll be sure to give you a full report. So far this is my biggest goal and (as of right now) I don’t have any plans for a full Ironman LOL š
Looking forward to your race report. My last 70.3 was in 2014 (having done all the IM branded events in driving distance) and I figured I was done with long distance training/racing. Then Ohio popped up and I want to do it in 2017. Will be curious about what you thought of the event. Have you been to the race venue yet? Any idea what the road conditions are like or what the typical water temp is in mid August? Sounds like your training is solid and you should have a great race!