Well, now that the cat (tail?) is out of the bag, it's time to fess up about what I've been up to in the past month surrounding prep for Ironman Iowa....otherwise known as IMCORN....or.... since it's technically Ironman Des Moines, Ironman, in all their wisdom, have dubbed it "IMDSM". Who knows why, since the "S" isn't really an acronym in "Des Moines", but I rather like to believe it's to make my inner eighteen-year-old giggle as I can't, for the life of me, hear it without adding in a B after the first M. Which, since its already in a cornfield, has made my anthem for the race Korn's "Freak on a Leash". I crack myself up.
I need help. We all know this.
Regardless of how I get my laugh of the day, I am, in fact, serious about this race. All jokes of poor decision making aside and running a race amongst the windmills, Ken and I have serious goals for this race and I'm approaching the training as such. I hope to blog about the training blocks as they happen to see how the execution of the race fares with my prep, and for anyone interested in my training plan, execution, and balancing a life around this beast (uh, DSM), follow along!
This race has a number of factors that make it different from any other Ironman I've done (this will be #4 - I did IMLP in 2010 and 2018, and what's now IMMD in 2011). For one, I now know how to ride my bike. Wait. No, I meant that. Um....what I really mean is, after the great 180 of my tri life in 2019, this will be the first full I've done. I've tried valiantly to do 140.6 in 2020 and 2021, but with COVID, it was thwarted. Since I flipped my training around in 2019, this will be my first full distance - and seeing how I bested my 70.3 by over an hour, I'm really interested to see how I'll do with a full. My PR from 2011 is a 12:50, and right now one of the goals is to go under 12 hours. I feel like this is highly doable, given the conditions of the day. It's also a much earlier race than I'm used to - early June, which will make some of the outside prep a little more challenging on the bike, but we will roll with it. Sub 12 baby. I might have a loftier goal than that, but 3 weeks into my plan, that's what I'm comfortable starting with.
And yes, it's my plan. That's a tough one to write. For the past two and a half years I've had a coach that's helped me along with my journey - he's an awesome friend and has helped me become a better athlete in so many ways. Due to a few lifestyle changes, I've decided to attack 2022 without a formal coach - I have some friends helping me out and reviewing my plan, but it will be finalized by me. It's scary as shit, to be honest. I'll miss having it all laid out for me, but I also have a few ideas of things that I would like to approach differently this year and a bit of a crazy schedule to juggle that seemed best to plan it out myself. So far, I've done quite a bit of research into optimal Ironman prep for the goals I have in mind and have developed a blueprint for a 24-week plan. It's got the major pieces mapped out and is broken into seven segments - five four-week blocks, a two-week peak phase, and a taper. I plan to keep copious notes and tweak as necessary and have some friends stepping in to help out with the swim, bike and run specific workouts that have the speed to get me where I want to be. I'm a pretty lucky girl.
Block 1:
Physical:
At this point in time, I came out of off season on December 27, and am now entering recovery week of block one. I feel fantastic. I've been pretty darn close to nailing the run speed I had before off season, and my long runs feel great. I took longer off the specific bike work - but in the past week, my tempo sessions have been right back to where I left them in September. The pool is a little slower to come back - I only swam once a week, if that, since mid-September, and for the past 3 weeks, I've been in the pool three times a week. My cruise pace is about 5 seconds slower per 100, and for the first block back, I'll take it!
My pro triathlete boyfriend. Yum.
Mental:
I am so darn amped. Along with the physical training I've been doing a lot of reading about mental strength and also exclusively watching Ironman fodder on YouTube while on the trainer. I've developed an unabashed crush on Lionel Sanders and have watched every video he's put out in the past year - multiple times. His humility, drive, and realism keeps me coming back - he's so hungry for it, he wants it, but also knows where he needs to do the work and how to get it done. He teams up with athletes that drive him on, and has admitted changing course several times to try different things to see if they work. Watching him inspires the shit out of me. Plus, the dude looks like a poet doing a flying dismount (possibly I watched his dismount at Ironman Chattanooga at least a dozen times) and looks damned fine in Lycra on a track. (Hey, I like triathletes. What can I say). I'm gonna need to find some new content for training block #2 if anyone has any ideas!
Emotional:
This is a big area I've struggled with in the past and will honestly be the hardest part of going at this race without a coach - and - maybe the easiest, if I can channel it well. I tend to get way too invested in what's "assigned" and beat myself up if I can't hit my goals. One of the bonuses of being my own coach is I'm able to switch workouts around without any consult - if its -2 and I want to ride and save a run for the next day, I can. If I start an 8-mile effort and feel flippin' fabulous, I can extend it to 12 and make it my long run for the week. I have the power to flex my weeks as necessary, as long as I'm honest about the work and my body. This has already been a factor in block one - I had intended to make this block 4 weeks of work and 1 of recovery, as week 1 was more easing in and I had more time this week than next to train...and make next weeks busier week a recovery week.
But, yesterday, after a crazy weekend that included a two-hour roller-skating party that left me sore in unexpected places (damn getting old), I was so anti my long run that I put it off for stupid reasons. I was grumpy about it all morning and in general a miserable person. I went out finally, grumbling. Usually, I can shake that off a mile or two in, but this time, no dice. I made peace with 6 miles. Then adjusted to 8. Then bargained for 10. And somehow, through sheer will, made the full 12 miles (oddly enough, in a decent time and on a harder route than normal) but I hated every step.
For someone that adores all training, and running the most, this was a big red flag. This morning, I had plenty of time and was going to do a 3-hour ride. When I woke up, I knew that was a dumb idea. After my morning coffee, I sat down and reworked the whole week and made it the recovery week that I needed. And that's listening to your body. While part of me feels off for not optimizing my time, I know that if I don't listen to my body, it will tell me when we are resting - most likely at an inopportune time. So I'm dialed in, and will take the week my body needs, so I can come back stronger than ever for block #2!
How will this one pan out? We shall see. Right now the goal of block one was to start base building and get my yardage up in the pool and on the bike. Those are my weaknesses - mostly in the pool. Block #2 goals will be extending the long ride to 3.5 hours (right now I am at 2.5) and getting my swim up to 4x a week. Ironman is a long road, but I am excited for the journey!
No comments:
Post a Comment