In four weeks, I plan to be sitting right where I am right now writing my Ironman Arizona race story. It still seems far away. But not that far away. I’ve raced long in Tempe twice, 2010 and 2017, both occasions were seminal but not perfect points in my endurance career. Therefore, I am not attached to hitting any specific splits that I did on those first two go arounds, I am aware that *this* year will be different, it will be a race all its own, and that is exactly what I want it to be.
I officially kicked off this round of Ironman Arizona training on August 6th, so I've been at it for a minute. I have had bouts with fatigue, muscle soreness and sleepiness, and have bounced back better and quicker from each of those Ironman training guarantees by refining and increasing my every day and in-training fueling, and sleep hygiene. For example, I have never been a big fan of adding protein powder to my smoothies because every option I tried in the past upset my stomach, but I now add Vega to most of my daily smoothies (depending on the training load) and it has caused zero discomfort but aided in maximum muscle recovery.
On the sleep front, I try to be in bed by 9:45P as many nights of the week as possible. Thankfully, my hub is fine with this revised sleep schedule. Also, I keep my phone in its charging-holster in my office down the hall from our bedroom most nights (unless I need a pre-6AM wakeup call) in order to ensure that I don’t look at the screen (blue light) before falling asleep and wake up naturally most mornings.
*BONUS* This healthy phone habit has also been a game-changer in decreasing social media induced anxiety, and I strongly suggest giving it a try.
Regarding training, a request that I made to Hillary (my coach) earlier in the year was to jack up everything riding related more than any other year because I figured that is the one area in triathlon that my proficiency can increase along with my age (experience + strength = power) and thankfully, she obliged. *Please see muscle soreness above.*
This photo was captured moments after I completed the 24-hour bike marathon in the Spring of 1993, different decade, similar fatigue.
Unfortunately, I have had a few hiccups with my left hamstring that popped up after Ironman St. George while pedaling on Big Red that haven’t quite been resolved. I’ve tried to remedy the issue with a new fit and new seat, both have helped, but something is still off.
However, the most frustrating and expensive smear on the season is that two power meters have failed on me this year. True, gauging effort sans technology is Queen, but chasing watts is both my favorite and most beneficial means of improving bike fitness, so not having a dependable power meter has been annoying and probably detrimental to the gains I want to make before I steam down Beeline Highway next month.
Nevertheless, although bike training has not gone as smooth as I initially envisioned, my legs are crazy strong right now (shout out weighted stairs and multiple weekly trainer workouts),
so, I do believe my bike fitness is coming along, it might just show up fashionably late.
I’d planned on sharing about my progress in the swim and run portion of training, too, (I will do that over the next few weeks) but I’m tired, and there are athlete logs to review, books to read, and new Taylor Swift videos to watch, so I am going to sign off here, but I will leave you with a teaser that has nothing at all to do with Ironman Arizona or CIM, and everything to do with BOSTON.
To be continued…
The song and video choice is the brand-spanking *NEWEST* release from Taylor Swift, Bejeweled. This video starts off strong with a clever and funny scene, and then it goes completely off the rails, but it’s still massively entertaining. Enjoy.:)