STILL Training for Ironman

Yup. Still training. Hence, the reason there has been NO BLOGGING for several months.  People, Ironman training takes. up. all. of. my. time. 

Honestly, it goes against everything that is "normally" me.  

1. I have NEVER stuck with something for a long time. 
2. I get bored VERY quickly, even with things that really  interest me, and I usually have to move-on to a new thing. 
3.That goes for working out too. In the past I have never enjoyed doing ONE type of workout, never mind doing that ONE kind of workout for extended hours at a time!!! B-O-R-I-N-G!!
4. Usually if it takes me away from my family.....not gonna do it. 
5. If it takes up too much of my time.....it has always been "too much"!

However, I enjoy this sport. I enjoy it a lot! Maybe it's because it's THREE sports rolled into one  (helping me not get too bored), or maybe it's the fact that I am doing something that I NEVER DREAMED possible, or maybe I just finally put on my "big girl"pants and sucked it up. All I know is that I DO enjoy it. :)

And since I enjoy it, I am getting better at it. I can swim, bike, and run much faster! 

Me, getting ready to spin!

Swim: 77 laps - 48 minutes
Bike: 56 miles - 3hrs, 20 min
Run: 13.1 - 2hrs, 19 min

So....I am not the fastest person around....but I am doing great for ME! 

My training has pretty much looked like this for the past 3 months:

Monday: REST
Tuesday: bike - 1.5 hours (sometimes swim for 45 min) - interval
Wednesday: Bike 1 hour, run 30 min - interval
Thursday: Spin class - 1 hour, run 30 min -or -sometimes swim 30 min
Friday: rest,  - or run 1 hour, - or swim 1 hour, -(or both) - interval
Saturday: looooong bike ride (with small run)
Sunday: looooong run (with small bike)

COME ON MAY 17th!!!! I am ready to cross the IRONMAN finish line!!!!!

Ironman Training Weeks 13-19

WEEKS 13-19

Well, I skipped a few weeks of recording my training. I DO have a large amount of excuses though. A few of these excuses are: we started homeschool (whew!!), my baby got into the "I'm a 1 year old - I want to get into everything-but I might kill myself" stage, we remodeled the house a little bit, there was a bit of drama, I worked hard at putting a strong effort into my marriage (just because we love each other!), and more. All in all.....it has been a CRAZY few weeks. Good weeks....but super crazy!

Throughout the craziness, my training has been wonderful!! I have been enjoying my workouts and beginning to really feel "athletic". I actually ENJOY and WANT to do my workouts! I have been waiting so long to finally get to this point!!!! So what have I been doing??? Well.....

I have to begin with MY FIRST TRIATHLON!!

I completed the Memorial Herman Houston (TownLake) Triathlon on September 2, 2013. I had a GREAT time doing my first sprint triathlon! I swam great (it was my favorite part), rode pretty well (I did almost fall!), and did the best I could on the run ( I am definitely heel striking). All in all, I was proud of my accomplishment!

The hubby walking me down to the swim start to get out all of my pre-race jitters!!

Here I am coming up to the finish line!! Look at that SMILE!!!

Finished and PROUD!

After my sprint...I was PUMPED to continue training for the half-ironman (and full Ironman).  My schedule for these past few weeks pretty much looked like this:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: run 1-1.5 hours

swim 30 min - 1 hour 

Wednesday: ride/run combo )1.5 hours

Thursday: swim 1 hour

spin class 1 hour

Friday: run 1 hour

Saturday:

run or ride

(2-4 hours)

Sunday:

run or ride

(2-4 hours)

Total Hours ~ 10 hours - 15.5 hours

My swimming has gotten better!! I am getting the technique down, however; I am still not swimming as fast as I want to be! I am getting my swims down to 54-58 minutes for the half-ironman distance. That is still so darn slow!! Sigh.....I HAVE only been training for 19 weeks. :)

We finally got to go to this place to get in open water swim practice! It is a small lake dedicated to  open water swims (and scuba diving). We swam around for an hour and had a BLAST!!!!!

The biking is just ok. I have a hard time going on my long rides outside. Again, I have tons of excuses! I have to coordinate all four kiddos, birthday parties, baby-sitters, and life in general. It's so super hard!!!! The hubby and I DID finally get our 56 mile bike ride in.....and it was SO fun!!! I hurt afterwards. Boy, did I hurt. BUT it was fun!!!

My running has gotten better. I have learned that I am MENTALLY UNABLE to push myself to run fast. If I am by myself (which is 95% of the time) my runs stay around 11 min/mile. I CAN run fast. The other day I ran 3 miles and each mile was UNDER 10 MIN!!! However, my hubby ran next to me and he pushed me to run faster! I need that outside push that I just cannot do for myself!

Which leads me to my next AWESOME update:

MY HUBBY IS GOING TO STAY BY MY SIDE FOR MY FIRST 70.3!!!!!!!!

I am soooooo excited about this! He came to me one day and asked if I would like to have him by my side during my 70.3 race. I couldn't believe he wanted to do that! My hubby is SUPER competitive and to think he would give up an entire race to stay at MY pace.....well, all I can is, he loves me! (A part of me thinks it's almost cheating.....he REALLY helps me push myself to go faster than I normally would go...but I don't care!).

Our 70.3 race is The Oilman on November 3, 2013. I cannot wait to cross the line with the love of my life by my side. Knowing he will be there with me has really helped me train hard and get ready for that awesome moment!!!!

Ironman Training - Week 12

August 20 - 26, 2013

Week 12

This week my hubby was out of town. He usually helps a bunch with the kids while I work-out, so I didn't get a lot of training done without him. I could have.....but I just didn't. Like I said last week, I am worried that I am beginning to get burned out (or very bored) and I am trying not to let that get to me. I DID get to do my very first practice in open water swim!!!! That made me feel so much better!! And got me excited to actually DO a triathlon instead of just training for one!!!!

Schedule

Monday: rested

Tuesday: rested (no swim)

Wednesday: biked for an hour and ran 1 mile

Thursday: spin class! (no swim)

Friday: rested

Saturday: biked for 1 hour and 45 minutes, then ran 2 miles

Sunday: rested after my OPEN WATER SWIM PRACTICE!!!!!

On the open water swim.....I swam the course for my very first (sprint) triathlon coming up next week! I swam the 550 meters in 13:30!!!! I got very excited and overwhelmed during the first few minutes, which made my heart rate rise and made me not breathe well. I finally got myself together and kept going the rest of the way wonderfully!!! I haven't practiced sighting, so that was a bit difficult. I pretty much just stopped and would tread water for a few seconds after every 3-4 strokes so I could see which way I was swimming. I am so glad I decided to wake my big butt up and do it!!!!!

I'm in the pink cap. That's me beginning the swim.

That is me about to finish. Pink cap.

Hubby snapped a pic the moment I stepped out of the water. 

Cokes and Canvas - An art class at the Green's

I had been in a mommy rut and tv watching had reached an ultimate high. Everyone was bored of escaping the summer heat by sitting in the house. So I came up with a BRILLIANT plan. I decided to be a "cool" mom and let the kiddo's paint. But not just get-out-some-paint-and-plain-paper-and-go-to-town paint. No, no. It was the real deal!

This is the day we started 

Cokes and Canvas

First we chose our drinks. It came as no surprise that they wanted Dr. Pepper. We almost exclusively drink water, so when I let them have anything else.....it's almost always DR. Pepper that they choose! And being the "cool" mom for the day, I let them have it!

Next we chose our painting. I searched online for painting places that offer kids classes and let them browse. Of-course, no one wanted to agree. The dog won, but just barely. I was adamant about us ALL doing the same painting, just as if we were at an actual painting place.

After that, we decided what colors of paint we wanted. This was another fight among my little munchkins.

-"NO! MINE has to be pink!"

-"But MOMMY, I don't want MINE pink if HERS is pink!"

etc.....

Then we chose our music. Again, I gave them a list of stations on Pandora from which to choose. Surprisingly, Disney won without a fight. We instantly began singing to "Lion King" and "Tiana".

Finally, it was time to PAINT!!!! Everybody was very excited to begin! I stood in front of the kiddos and began to draw the ears of the dog. I explained that it did not matter how perfectly they drew and that no one's painting ever looks the exact same as someone else, and not to worry if they think they messed up because I could help them fix it. I know, I know. I'm so smart. They TOTALLY understand and matured so greatly from my speech, right? Wrong. It was almost instant chaos. TEARS EVERYWHERE. 

-"I MESSED UP!"

-"Mine looks TERRIBLE!"

-"I can't do this!!!"

I tried to help. I tried to console. I tried to explain.

MORE TEARS. 

The kids had totally lost it. They wouldn't listen. At.. All.

Finally my patience was too thin and I gave up.

Soooooo....I yelled.

-"GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

I let the kids quiet down in their rooms. Well, actually it was only the big ones. Myleigh was an angel. She just sat there, wide eyed. She held her pencil for a while and finally smiled at me. She was so patient...just waiting until the big kids decided to act normal again.

Once they had finally quieted down, I went in and apologized for yelling. They apologized for getting angry. We hugged and headed back to paint.

The rest of the time was super fun. They DID mess up here or there while painting......but had learned not to scream about it. I helped them along the way and we sang more Disney songs. It really was fun!!

I love how you can see the progression of each age. The kids loved personalizing their own artwork, Gracie re-did her collar about five times and Jakob made sure his dog tag had a "J" on it. Myleigh was just Myleigh the whole time, just happy to be part of the group and doing what the big kids did.

We are already planning our next Cokes and Canvas party.....hopefully this time without so many tears!!!!

Ironman Training - Week 11

August 11-18, 2013

Week 11

This week was pretty good. I have been trying to wake up earlier and earlier, so I was a bit sleepy, making it harder to choose to workout instead of napping. I feel like I am beginning to get bored with the training. I need a partner or a change of pace, somehow. The monotony of the schedule is boring me, I think. It is too much of the same thing, day after day. But....I want to cross the finish line too bad to let it stop me!

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: Ran 5 miles - 54 minutes. Then swam 20 laps in 14 minutes. (Masters class canceled)

Wednesday: Rest day....ugh

Thursday: Biked 1 hour. Then masters swim. Technique is better, also swam 1,200 meters!

Friday: Ran 3.5 miles (instead of 8) because the gym shut down after lights went out from bad weather

Saturday: TRIED to bike at home....got in 1 hour....the baby didn't feel well and cried too much

Sunday: Ran 10 miles!!!!! That is the farthest I have EVER ran in my life!!!!!

Things I Learned:

1. I need to change up my workouts.......hmmm???

2. I am getting faster and my endurance is getting better!!!!

3. Get your kids to clean while they wait for you to finish working out. Two birds - one stone.

My view while on the bike

Ironman Training - Week 10

August 6-12, 2013

Week 10

Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: BARELY ran. The baby was crazy. Masters swim. Finally getting better....and a bit faster.

Wednesday: Did a sprint triathlon at the gym. 800 meter swim, 15 mile bike, 3.1 run.

Thursday: Spin class. Hardest spin class ever!!!! Masters swim....getting better!!!!

Friday: Rested...well, kinda. We rearranged our house and the treadmill was out of commission.

Saturday: Rode 3 hours. At home again. Watched movies....it was fun!!!

Sunday: Ran 8 miles. Still takes me 1 hour, 28 minutes.

Things I Learned:

1. When I am able to think about something else....like watching a movie or listen to comedy on Pandora....I can REALLY get a good workout. Therefore,  I need to train my mind. My mind is keeping me from pushing hard. 

Ironman Training - Week 9

July 30-August 6, 2013

Week 9

Tuesday: Ran 6 miles! Then another AWESOME masters swim!

Wednesday: Rested

Thursday: Biked for 1 hour. Then masters swim.

Friday:Ran 3 miles, instead of 6....it was the hubby's birthday

Saturday: Rode for 2 hours, 45 min. At home, and caught up on some movies. :) Then I ran for 15 min.

Sunday: Ran 8 miles, at home. It is Houston during August.....I won't be outside for a while.

Total:   8.5 hours

Things I Learned:

1. I LOVE masters swim. I'm not very good (yet) but I love it.

2. I need to get out of my head. My head keeps me from pushing myself.