Ironman Training Block 4- Clubbed to Death

And here we are, four months into the IMCORN  Des Moines journey!  With just eight weeks left to go, it seems incredibly odd that I'm in what they would call the "home stretch" of training...I have one more build block to go, then its time for a little race simulation stuff and then....taper.  What?  It's gone by so darn fast, faster than any other Ironman training program I've ever done.  I have a few thoughts on that one...its possible that since the rest of my life has been so nuts, I haven't ruminated much on the actual enormity of training this time around - on the weekend I schedule the work for the upcoming week, get it done during the time allotted, then move on.  I also tend to multi task a lot while training - whether its working while riding my bike, combining run time while hanging out with friends, or swimming while....well, ok, fine, its just trying not to drown at that point, I guess.  You get it. 

Either way, the way life has been in 2022, there's been no other way to tame this particular beast, which I tend to see as a benefit - my little overthinking mind usually questions every workout, every pace and every tiny little thing about training, and its been rather refreshing to implement the "FAFO" method - as I dubbed it to one of my running buddies - aka, the "Fuck Around and Find Out" plan.  How will I fare?  We shall know in 8 weeks!  Either way, let's take a look at this last block.

Physical

This block in particular brought me some pretty darn good distance training - I got up to 4800 yd in a swim session, a 5 hour bike session, and a 20 mile long run.  In the upcoming block we will push it to 5000 yds, 6 hour ride, and 22 mile run, and that will be my max distance until race day.  The increased volume is new to me - this block around I hit anywhere between 16-17:30 hours for the build portion, which I have never done before ( I think I hit max 13-14 hours for the last few Ironman's, which is now standard fare for 70.3 distance since 2019).  Again, this is all formulated with a combo of Friel, borrowing from my 2021 70.3 workouts, borrowing from other athletes I train with or talk to about training,  and adding in a dash of Glaser as I see fit. As I've gone through the block I have sorely missed having a coach in some ways (the feedback, in particular), but in other ways I'm glad I've been driving the bus - with my life schedule the way it is, I'm totally in control of when and how I do my own workouts.  Again, I'm tracking what I do and how I feel, but June 12th will really tell us how this one goes, so stay tuned - I know you're on the edge of your seat here.

In terms of execution, this block has been incredibly well done - suspiciously so, in fact.  I had one tough long ride I broke in two (running off of 3 hours sleep) and one tempo ride I had to dial down in week 3 (again, lack of sleep).  My other two long rides were excellent (4:30 and 5:00), my week of riding outside felt on point (save for the one ride in the hail and windstorm, that, despite my jokes, was not race simulation KEN, thankyouverymuch), my 3 long runs were suspiciously well done...at 16, 18, and 20 miles...and...I felt like I could have kept GOING, which is wild.., and all my longer swim sets (ranging anywhere from 400-800 repeats) have felt spot on.  I was tired after the 3 weeks of build and took the recovery week well, working on form and bike skills (did you guys know that bottle cages actually were made for.....water bottles....and you can use them as such?? (yes, I know.  But keeping it real.  Let the record show that it took me sixteen years of racing to actually grab a bottle while riding...yikes!))

In terms of tempo and speed, this block also fared well - I got a great tempo run in with my buddy Jeff (he possibly tried to break me and I'm a stubborn bitch dedicated athlete), killed my v02 max bikes, and hit new swim PR's (if you want to call them that) in the 50, 100 and 200 distance.  Score.  

In a nutshell, this block was a giant success.  Suspiciously so, in fact.  But that's more about my mental state...so lets move on...

Mental

With perfect timing, the recovery week of this block fell on Easter, with Easter brunch the last day of my recovery. I'm pretty lucky that most of my extended family has an interest in my annoying obsession with multi sport - my 72 year old cousin still runs 5 and 10ks, and my other cousin (in his 30s, like me) does crazy shit like hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (twice).  Someday, the two of us have ambitions to have a fun family vacation at Frozen Head State park....for the Barkley marathons...but I digress.  Either way, it really heals to have some people that get my crazy - and actually are interested in it!  

This time, it was my 80 year old cousin, who is a retired Marine (semper fi!) and while he isn't a triathlete, was an avid volleyball player up until a few years ago (he used to recruit me to play until he realized I have a profound talent for bumping the ball backwards...there's a reason I don't play team sports).  As we tucked into brunch, amidst our discussion of Ironman, he asked me about the mental component of sport.  He'd been reading up on it and wanted to know - in my opinion - how much of what I did was about mental toughness.  I looked him dead in the eye and replied - at least 90%.  

And this is even more so when you tack on the distance. Ironman is about long training, sure, but its more about talking your mind into what you're doing. Because your mind will give you so many reasons to quit way before your body truly needs to.  It's about being 45 minutes into a 5 hour ride and wrapping your mind around the fact that you aren't even 20% done.  It's about getting up at 4am, shivering through your coffee, and getting into the pool before most of the world is awake.  In the mornings.....when its cold.  When your kid has kept you up most of the night.  when you cant shut your brain off at 4am.  When your head hurts.  When your legs hurt.  When you have six hours of meetings at work and half your staff calls off. When TR says the workout is a "stretch".  When 8 minutes into 44 minutes of tempo, your legs are crying, your chest is heaving, and you cant pull any type of mental HTFU out of your soul.  what do you do? 

Its about....remembering your WHY.  

Because at mile 60 of the bike, or at mile 4 of the marathon on race day....its gonna get tough.  Something's gonna go wrong.  And the training you did under less than stellar conditions....helps make you tough.  I have a buddy that routinely gets up at 4am to train for Ironman - he's damned nuts, but when I wake up at 5:30 and scroll Strava,  I see the insane amount of watts he just put out at 4:15am and I get my ass on the bike or off to the pool.  Some days, I don't want to.  Some days, I spend the entire hour streaming "Clubbed to Death" in my matrix themed sports bra, while looking at my inspo wall in the basement, chanting out my "why" and remembering that I am, in fact, a stubborn triathlete who detests the words "can't" and "no".  This usually works.  And it will hopefully pay dividends on June 12th.  Having a powerful WHY makes all the difference.  And despite the sweat and (sometimes) tears, I absolutely love everything to do with this sport and am so incredibly excited about Iowa.  And that mental piece...is just as...if not more...important than any physical training I do. 

Emotional

In addition to the mental piece, being in a good emotional spot is also super important.  This cycle, I'll be honest - most of the time, I felt like the only thing that as going well was my training.  As I've blogged about routinely - this year is just not going according to plan.  Every time I turn around, something's changing - and it's usually not for the better.  I've had to call in every coping skill I have, along with some boundary setting (which I hate) and in some cases, walk away from things that were costing me too much of my emotional health.  Through all of it, maintaining the balance of life and training has been tricky.  I've been careful to routinely check in with my husband and kids to take the

temperature of this process - while life is a balancing act, sport is always a space that should be the accommodating one for other areas of life when necessary.  I've moved workouts, scrapped workouts, and done them early, late, or around other obligations.  Systems check at home are a go - my kids are excited about Mommy's training and also ready to head out on adventure the second I walk in the door - Greg has been amazing about my 3 hour runs, because on the other weekend morning he gets to sleep in or do his own thing.  Again, balance.  Having my family on board has been so helpful and on my end, I do whatever I can to maintain that equilibrium.  And I'm lucky to have a life that I can flex out and juggle to accommodate it - even if I am exhausted by 8pm each day!  I'm also so DAMNED EXCITED about June 12 - sometimes during a run, or long ride, I just picture the excitement of Ironman again - it's been four long years and I cannot WAIT to play like a little kid in the fields (of corn) in Iowa!

So there ya go.  Heading into block 5- which includes my first multisport race of 2022 (Fly by night duathlon), some longer runs off the bike, and nutrition testing...and the final full block before the big dance - we are ready to go!  LET's DO IT!