This has been my best training week thus far in the IronMan process.  I was able to do most of my scheduled workouts and I feel like I am getting stronger.  If not stronger, at least I now believe I can finish the race.  If I nail my nutrition so that my body is able to function and if there are no extenuating technical circumstances, I know I can physically finish.  Perhaps not in my target time, but by golly, I know I can make it to that finish line.  That is the confidence I need to get me through the next twelve weeks.

Granted, I’ve been on vacation for a long time and things are just easier when on vacations. I don’t have to cram the usual weekend errands into the weekends which are now filled with additional training hours.  These things help me stay sane and strong and I take my hat off to all of you who work hard, important, full time jobs and still train for an IronMan.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not undermining my work or my responsibilities.  I have a full plate and feel like I lose balance on life often.  It’s 8:00pm on a Saturday and I am falling over the dinner table ready to pass out.   I spend three hours trying to figure out childcare so that I can train for five hours.  But I know that just the flexibility of fitting in a workout mid-morning instead of 6:00am may make the difference in my actually getting the workout done.  And this amazing thing happens when you do what is on your training plan … you get better.  My bet is that if I actually follow the swim workouts from now on … that will get better too!

I am fully aware not all weeks will be good ones, and life will get in the way very shortly.  Yet I can confidently say that this week, well this week was solid.

Here is how it went:

Monday: SWIM. Lap pool. 3000 yards

Tuesday: RUN. 6 miles of bridge tempo run. That means up and down and up and down the William Powell Bridge to Key Biscayne, Florida.

Wednesday: SWIM. 1.5mile open water swim.  Choppy water, low visibility, strong current.  Good practice but slow swim.

Thursday: BIKE. Spinning class

Friday: SWIM. Easy forty five minutes with a lot of pulling.  I was nervous about the weekend ahead.

Saturday: RUN. 18 miles. The farthest I have ever run, and truth is it wasn’t so bad.  Although my legs were fine for the last mile, my mind was spent.  Cynthia helped me get out of it by asking me what my finish line picture is.  You know, what you want to do when you cross the finish line.  I had never thought of that, so that took my mind off the running.

Sunday: BIKE. 75 miles on the IronMan Florida course at Ultrabikex Computrainer Studio.  There are a couple of hills, one about 5%.  It was also nice to train with a power meter as I don’t have one.  I am a bit all over the place with that but was able to hold on to what my power should be for the race.

So, how about you? How was your training week?

Oh! Have you filled out the TriathlonMami Survey? It’s 5 quick questions and takes 2 minutes.  It would really help me focus and write the kind of things you want to read!