Well, hello friends! It's about time for a little Ironman recon - I'm absolutely late for a block #2 recon (Jan 24-Feb 20) but since this is my show, my rules, I'm still gonna do it. (Thanks for hanging in there with me)
Going into this block, I was super amped - I had a wildly successful block #1 and was riding a high on the whole thing - I felt amazing physically and was mentally focused, and emotionally ready to go slay 140.6!
What's that saying, make plans and God laughs? Seems accurate now. As any of you that regularly read my blog or follow my Facebook bullshit know a little bit about the month of February - namely, what kind of shit show it was. Seemed like everything just sort of smacked me in the face - work, family, and other interpersonal stuff - and my ability to juggle it all spectacularly collapsed. Usually I can train through this stuff as a stress relief, but this time I was not as lucky - along with all the mental stress, the second week into the block, my training took a turn for shit and started to suck as well.
When I say suckage, there was a level of suckage that fluctuated - most days I got the required amount of work in, but anything having to do with intensity I spectacularly failed at. Off of block 1 I had a new FTP and could hit none of the paces for tempo or V02 max. I bailed on two speedwork sessions for the run, and became the Queen of slow, easy work - when I could handle it.
I'd like to say I handled this with grace and looked at the big picture, but I don't make a habit of lying to you - the whole concept of this blog is an honest snapshot of wannabe athlete of a certain age (lol) trying to navigate the whole messy process of life. So let's take a look in depth of what a true shit block looks like...and what to do about it.
Physical
Going into block two, I felt reasonably decent - rested after recovery week and ready to rock. I nailed my paces in week one then completely blew most of them in weeks two and three. My long stuff equally suffered - one long ride was cut short due to a life emergency (now sort of resolved) and one long run interrupted due to weather and begrudgingly finished on the treadmill. My intense work began to suffer in weeks two and three - I could not wrap my mind around a totally normal run speedwork set (kilometer repeats) and blew it two weeks in a row. For my V02 max work on the bike, I would nail it for the first minute then die the second minute. Was it my new FTP? Lack of sleep? Life stress? Less of a desire for eyes on the prize? Well, the last three are all mental and emotional, but for the first piece, I'm not sure. At the time I felt like I could give no more, but as I was conceptually aware (post tantrum throwing) that physical and mental work together, I reverted to "just get the time in" for this block. I'm fortunate in the fact that my first A race is not a high intensity race, and for Ironman training, base trumps speed. It was, in fact, the only thing I could tell myself to feel any better about the situation whatsoever.
Mental
This was my key player. When life hands you a lemon, you can possibly make lemonade gu and work through it. However, when there's a gigantic lemon tree in your front yard producing a bumper crop, after awhile - you catch as many lemons as you can and then dodge the rest. Such was training. No loner could I shelf a problem and go for a run, or even work the problem out during the run. It was a logistical nightmare to try to map out the training and I went into most sessions being depleted - of either sleep, nutrients, or the ability to focus on the execution of the workout. And this was really very evident. After many, many, struggling thoughts of WTF is wrong with me, I finally gave up and said to myself....self (and I knew it was me, cause I recognized my voice) you are doing the best you can. Its February. You have almost four months to go. Take the setback now, do the best you can, and work through this block. If it still sucks next block, we can talk about it then. But now...one step. at. a. time.
And once my kinder self took over, I embraced that strategy and limped through the block.
Emotional
In this case, most of my emotions tended to align with my mental state - which was completely hopeless. I talked to a friend of mine about the process and he asked a key question - Did I still want to do Ironman? Or was I burned out? and I unequivocally answered "of COURSE I want to do it" and had no qualms. I wish I could say this came about in the beginning of the block - it didn't - but once I had that answered, I remembered my purpose. I took a little break from my kick ass run playlist and played some old throwbacks - including one from my college days - Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" - and this became my anthem for the rest of the block
Hey, don't write yourself off yet
Its only in your head you feel that odds are looked down on
Just try your best - try everything you can
.....
It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle
And that reminded me - hey - you're trying your best. It's ok. You're doing all you can. And In week 6....7....of a 24 week plan....you're (not even) in the middle. Get this shit out of the way THEN go kick some ass when it matters!
***
Once my recovery week came along, I was more than ready for it. It was a week pre winter break, where my mom was scheduled for surgery (she is in physio rehab now and ok), both kids were off school (yay for enough vacation to cover childcare needs) and a bunch of work went wild. I took the week to step back from training and into life and hit Block 3 on February 21 with all the verve and a clean slate, ready to rock.
How did it go? You'll find out in two weeks, but let's just say....a shake up was never a bad thing, and sometimes the motto really is....two steps forward and one step back. Either way, its relentless forward progress. (An excellent book, in case you were looking for one!)
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