Ironman Arizona Week 11: Insanity

One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results. If that’s true, I am certifiably insane.

Oddly enough, I look forward to my long runs. Every time I think to myself “I’m going to get it right this time” or “I know I can keep a faster pace, I’m going to do it.” Yet, I begin running after 9:00am when childcare was available during the summer months, meaning that at 11:30 chances are I would still be running. If you have ever been in Miami in August you would know that 11:00 am on a sunny day might as well be the inferno.

We kid around that we have two seasons here in South Florida: hot and hell. And guess what? Right now it’s hell. Yet I insist that I can still go out at 9:00am and still have a good run, and time again I am grossly disappointed. I could run at night, or at dawn, but I wasn’t willing to do that since, in my mind, this time was going to be different.

It might come as a shocker then that Friday’s fourteen mile run was just as slow as the other ones. Deep down I am counting on the speed to magically reappear when it is no longer being evaporated by the midday sun.

As for the heat and the bike, things are much better. I switched to Perform, the beverage available on the Ironman course so I get used to it. I freeze it the night before, and then have it as a slushie during the bike. That has electrolytes. Then, I begin taking my salt pills as I switch to filling up my bottles at water fountains. So far, so good. I have no complaints on Saturday’s 80 miler even if I only finished at around noon.

Here’s how the week went:

Monday: REST. Not prescribed, but how it happened.

Tuesday: RUN. I almost had a rest day, but decided to finally get out the door when Joe came home at 8:30pm but then was up until 3:00am totally wired.

Wednesday: BIKE. And a crappy bike as such at the Ultrabikex Computrainer Studio. Legs just wouldn’t move.

Thursday: SWIM. Open water. I took my ThumbsUp teammate Caryn to the ocean and we pulled our kids on a kayak for about a mile. That is what we will be doing on the Swim Alligator Race, September 20.

Friday: RUN. Long and hot fourteen miles.

Saturday: BIKE. Long and hot 80 miles followed by two mile run.

Sunday: SWIM. Another open water with Caryn and the kiddos getting ready for September 20

How about you? How was your training week?