This is my last Ironman....well maybe

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The past two years when training for my Ironman race in May I have said that it was my last Ironman.  Each time I have signed up for another Ironman after finishing the race.  I am here again in the midst of my training for Ironman Texas in May and I am telling you this is my last Ironman!  It is about at the height of the training when my life is ONLY work and training that I feel this way.  Today I spent the day training 6 hours and 20 minutes.  Then I got a massage that was not very relaxing (mostly because I was exercising for 6 hours today and I was so tight she had to work alot of things out).  Tomorrow I have to ride about 2 hours and Sunday I have to run 14 miles and swim for about an hour.  Doesn't that sound like an fun weekend?  That is exactly why I don't want to do another Ironman. 

Training for an event like an Ironman is no joke. It is hard work and all encompassing.  During the height of training your life becomes work, train, eat, and sleep.  Most times you don't have enough energy or time for anything else. 

I do however try and maximize my time when I train. Today my training called for an 85 mile ride and 4 mile run.  I had a repair guy scheduled to come by the house between the time of 8 and 12. I also had to fit in walking the dogs at some point in the day.  I didn't want to start my ride late in the day and I was not sure of the exact time the repair guy was coming.  So I decided at 8:30am to ride on my trainer until the repair guy came.  It was exactly two hours and he came and it took only 15 minutes for him to repair my car windshield.  I took Daisy for a 3 mile run when he left.  Then I got back on my bike only this time outside for 50 miles.  I came home and took my other dog Tigger for a 2 mile run.  I am sure I burned close to 5,000 calories with all my training. I don't think even if I tried I could consume enough calories today to replace everything today.  During my ride I was so hungry all I could think about was Grimaldis pizza.  As soon as I was done with my training sure enough I went to Grimaldis pizza.  I even got Reese's cheesecake for dessert.  So far I have consumed 3829 calories today.  During training today I consumed  about 800 calories of carbo pro, cliff bars and gels.  I am still in about 2000 calorie deficit however it is only 7pm so who knows maybe I will get close to 6000 calories.  Training for an Ironman increases my appetite dramatically.  I typically don't lose weight when training for an Ironman because I am always hungry.  I try to eat healthy options but sometimes long training days like today call for the good stuff.  It is funny because I kept thinking about how good the pizza would be while I was riding.  When I got the pizza it was good but not as good as I imagined on my ride and their pizza is my favorite pizza. I am just glad I was able to do my long brick today since the weather was beautiful.  Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be really windy with winds up to 50mph! 
Today I finished my long brick and only had 3 small glitches during the training.  While on my trainer my dog Tigger likes to bring me his ball to throw.  He plays this game as he sits there with his ball in his mouth he stares at me.  I go to grab it and throw it and he turns his head away so I can't reach the ball. We go through this a few times then he lets me have it to throw it for him.  This time I had enough and didn't want to play the game so he dropped it near my bike while I was riding on my trainer.  Sure enough it bounces right to my rear wheel! It hits my wheel and gets shot out the back side of trainer. Fortunately the only thing that happened was the tension was released and there was a tread mark on his ball.  The other near disaster was outside on the bike. I got hit in the face by a large bug.  Luckily it didn't sting me or anything.  Once when I lived in Atlanta I got hit by a bee between my eyes and got stung.  My face was swollen for days and I had to go to the doctor and get some type of shot to help my face get back to normal.  The last thing that happened today was losing my favorite polar water bottle on the ride.  I guess the day could have been worse:)

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 30, 2012 at 7:57 PM

    I completely understand/agree! Can't look that far ahead though. Right now it's day by day & week by week but there's a part of me that can't help but dread July. Then I think about taper time & moreover the FINISH LINE! Keep up the hard work! Thanks for all of your help- you're the best!
    -Brett

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