Hello again my sweaty babes! It’s been a while since my last check-in. For those of you who actually read my blog, thanks for coming back! It’s been surprisingly hard for me to keep up with my blog during Ironman training. Between the holidays, work and work-outs, the only free time I’ve had is to eat, ha! No, seriously, it’s been a tad crazy these days. I think I’ve been managing it well thus far however, things are about to get even crazier. I’ve just wrapped up what’s called “base phase” of my training plan and am now heading into “build phase”. Before we get into all of that, let me quickly recap what’s been going on this last month.
So many amazing things happened recently! If you follow me on Facebook , Twitter or Instagram you may already know. BUT I’m so happy to announce that I have been accepted as a member of (not one but) TWO amazing teams for the 2017 race season! The first of which is Mojo Racing.
Mojo Racing is the official team of Love the Pain, an apparel company I currently represent as an ambassador. Mojo Racing is a simply amazing and awesomely inspirational group of athletes including elite member Jeff Fairbanks. Jeff founded an amazing initiative called the Triumph Project. Which, by the way, has truly been an inspiration to me personally! He completed 21 days of 70.3’s (half Ironman distance) to engage others in the sport of triathlon and encourage them to share their stories of WHY WE TRI. As you may recall I recently shared my story and announced my initiative to raise money for Shatterproof so, I whole hardheartedly support Jeff and his goal to get others involved and share their triathlon stories and encourage others to tri. I’m so incredibly proud to be a part of this team! Love the Pain is a fairly new company, but has already created an incredible community of Triathletes. I’m so motivated by all of them and I only hope I can be an asset to the team.
The second team I have the honor to join is Equally Inspiring by Tri Equal. I think I almost fainted when I got the email. Not only am I able to join a team whose sole purpose is to increase the participation of women in the sport of triathlon (inspiring all by itself), but I also won 3 months of free coaching from one of TriEqual’s amazing volunteer coaches. This is seriously a dream come true for me. I so desperately need guidance! I’ve really been struggling with my heart rate zones and I just need someone who knows what their talking about to give me sound advice. An Ironman is a big race. It’s something I want to do right and I really want to finish without a DNF (did not finish – a technical term). I know I have the heart to do it, but I also want to be prepared with the athletic ability.
What’s best about joining this team (and most important), is that someone out there thought my story was worth sharing. I can’t express what that means to me. I was so afraid to share my addiction and depression story with the world, but I knew that there could be someone out there who would benefit from it. I always told myself that there would be a day that all those mistakes and the pain and suffering would all mean something. I hoped that one day I’d be able help others like me. Today, I hope that by sharing my story on this journey to Ironman I can reach someone who needs to hear it. My hope is that I can motivate someone, anyone, who needs a reason to believe in themselves.
Triathlon has been so much more than just a sport for me. It has been my saving grace, my therapy, and my inspiration. For now, I’m waiting to work out the details with my assigned coach. I’ll continue on with the Be Iron Fit training plan as scheduled. If my coach decides to give me a new plan or change things up, so be it! I’m so incredibly excited to work with a coach and get serious about my training.
So with all that in mind, Let’s talk about the last five weeks of my current training plan. If I had to some it up in one word, I’d use “slacking”. For the most part I’ve been doing the work however, I have consistently been missing at least one work out a week. I hate to admit it, but its true. It’s been pretty random too. Some days I just get lazy or busy and I push off those smaller workouts. Early in my training I was just doing 30 minute sessions here and there. Things have increased a bit since then. I now do one brick workout a week and my long rides/runs on the weekends have all increased to 1-2 hours each. As of today, I have only missed one of those long days and it was during the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s so so so so hard to manage time during the holidays! We had four family Thanksgiving dinners and by Saturday I was so stuffed with Turkey that I literally couldn’t do anything but roll around on the couch. I skipped my long run that weekend and I regret it. It was the first time I’d missed a key workout like that.
I’ve also found myself sleeping in later and later. When I started my training I was up at 5am every day going to the pool or riding my bike on the trainer. Now, I find myself sleeping in until 6am or even skipping my morning workouts and having to do them during my lunch hour. I’ve tried to be easy on myself. Meaning, I don’t beat myself up about those days I get my workouts done later in the day. At least I’m getting them done, right?
My training plan is broken down into three parts. Base phase, where I take things easy and build an aerobic base. Build phase, where I start tacking on miles/hours as well as speed training. Finally, peak phase, where its all out long rides/runs/swims and finally taper to race day. Now that I have completed base phase I’m moving on to build phase and I’m honestly a bit worried. It’s been over six months since I’ve done any speed work at all. The thought of trying to stay in zone 4 for any extended period of time hurts my lungs. Im hoping that the seriousness of adding speed work and longer workouts helps me get (and stay) into the groove of serious training.
I went out on my longest run to date last weekend. It was a 1 hour 30 minute zone 2 run. I haven’t run for over an hour since I was training for Ironman 70.3 in Austin last year. I’d honestly forgotten how amazing it felt! The weather is finally turning in Texas and it was cold and beautiful. It brought me back to my roots and my love of running. I SO needed that. I’ve also found a comfort zone on the indoor trainer rides. I can easily put on Netflix on get down to business and have fun in the pain cave. Even though I’m not the rock star triathlete I thought I’d be by now, I do believe I have found my place in Ironman training. I’m excited to see what the next 10 weeks bring!
Happy Running!
Priscilla
