Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Picking back up...

Okay time to get back onto the blog horse! No matter how short the blog is or what it's about. I assure you that most of the time until Aug. 30th this blog is going to be about my adventures in training. I'm really learning a lot about myself so far. Things like I can break through my mental barriers and push through my limits - for a very long time I have stopped short of going above and beyond because I have lacked the confidence and knowledge to do so. I changed one thing, I hired a coach with 10 years of experience. I couldn't be doing this without her - Thank You Liz! I've also learned that training for an Ironman can be VERY lonely. It seems like while everyone else is out doing group rides, I'm slotted to run or swim or do drills on the bike. Things I don't lack are consistency, focus (on training) and being a "good girl" (meaning I do as I'm told). I want to risk nothing that will keep me from doing my absolute best for this Ironman. I'm talking about over training and injury because it's usually a two-fer with those! I think I would be absolutely crushed if I got to a month out of doing this life changing thing and hurt myself because I did something that Liz advised me against. Yup, I'm going to do this thing right and who knows where it could lead me?
Just a synopsis of my very interesting and intriguing training from today (because I know you all are just dying to know). I swam 2800 yds. today and I'm here to tell you that I never thought I would be doing that! EVER! The tail end of the swim was 4 x 75 at max effort (R:30). Translated: swim 3 lengths (75 yds) as hard and fast as I could then rest 30 seconds - do that 4 times! By the last 75 yds. my ears were ringing, my heart was racing, my legs were tingling and almost stopped working - I thought I was going to pass out. I just kept telling myself, "Look lady! You are in 4 ft. of water and can stand up at ANY time. Push it!". It really made me appreciate the 150 yd. cool down. Drills are the way to go if you want to get good at swimming. I have improved quite a bit since the end of Dec. After the swim I had to do some strength training for 30 minutes and compared to the swim, it was cake!
I look forward to a good season and hopefully I'll see some of you sprinkled out there along the way.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

My biggest obstacle in training is being lonely. I feel your pain!

Iron Maiden said...

Thanks Sarah! We can be lonely together...uh...wait...is it possible to be lonely TOGETHER?

Mira (Ivanovich) Lelovic said...

Everything you've said sounds so very familiar to me. I guess because I went through it all. Enjoy all the training and learning, and be safe! You will learn so much about yourself training for IM thanks to all the time you'll spend alone.