Last post I was exactly 6 months from Ironman Cozumel...today, I sit 124 days, 21 hours, and 12 min from the start line.
YIKES.
That being said, I am cruising into week 4 of my official training plan. When I say "official" training plan, I'm meaning the 20 week plan that I am following week to week. However, BEFORE the "official" training plan started...I was already training and doing some benchmark testing to see where I'm at with certain things. For instance...
I absolutely positively made myself promise that I would do a 50 mile bike ride before I left for vacation at the end of June. And I did. I also made myself absolutely positively promise that I would do close to a 2 mile swim in the open water while on vacation. And I did (almost...1.85ish...close enough). I wanted to kind of see where I was at with the first two disciplines BEFORE I started training, so that as I get better, I can track my progress. The endurance part of the swim and bike don't scare me. It's getting it done in the time it needs to be done in (in Ironman there are cutoffs...if you don't make the cutoff...you don't continue to the next thing...so I have to HAVE TO HAVE TO...be able to do it in a certain amount of time). Running wise, I'm still taking it pretty easy, I know that's my sweet spot, so I've been focusing less on logging a ton of miles, and instead on running QUICKLY right off the bike.
So I'm entering week four. Last week, I kind of had a "light bulb" "AHA!" moment if you will. I've caught myself doing something as I've gotten into the groove of training. To understand...I have to give you a little background.
Before I did all the running, swimming, biking, active hobbies that consume my free time...I used to do this...
***For anyone that knows anything about music, please excuse this little ditty. I am obviously WAY WAY WAY out of practice, sitting on my couch, and I haven't sung this Aria in over 10 years, and those are the words I remember.
I think I've said it before (probably a lot...), I was a choir geek. From Elementary school until College. I was a Vocal Performance Major at Texas Tech for 3 semesters. Before I would even think about running a mile, I spent up to 8 hours a day in choir practice, piano lessons, studio time with my private coach, etc. Everything to me was about my voice, singing, performing. I used to live, eat and breathe it. When I was 20 years old, I was ready to move on, and kind of let it go for a while.
Point being, I used to live music. I lived rhythm. I took classes on conducting, I had a nifty metranome, I lived to a beat.
This has never translated into my running. Mostly because I spend my miles usually drowning out the world to someone else's beat. I run to super fast up-tempo music of many genres, that keeps me going. So in a way, music fuels my runs. Especially my long ones. Running a silent marathon at Ironman (no headphones allowed!) has been a fear of mine...until now.
I kind of caught onto it a month or so back in the pool. I would need to do 1200 meters or so, and I would count the laps, and I would be counting, in my head, under the water. I really find myself not thinking about anything else but the numbers. Think...
TWEN-TY TWO (BREATH), TWEN-TY TWO (BREATH)...
Over and over, counting down until it was done. Sounded like "triplet" measures, all swim long in my head. I swim to the counting rhythm. I zone out. Ok, easy enough, so I'm bored in the pool, and all there is to do is count my laps and think about my form.
But then...One day I was on my bike trainer, and I didn't turn on a movie to watch, and I didn't have my iPhone playing Pandora, it was just quiet. And I started counting...1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. When I was going easy it sounded like 4 bar measures. Then when I'd sprint, it would turn into 8 counts, or even 16. At the end of the ride, I looked at my stats and I had gone faster with a more even cadence. SO IT WORKS!
And then when I run...I hear it too! HOLY MOLY.
So I'm on to something. As I've turned off the Lil Wayne and Imagine Dragons, I've begun making my own music in the quiet, with my own body. I asked Kristofor if he thinks like that when he is going...and not really. Whatever knowledge base hidden in the back of my brain from all those years of musical training...it's resurfacing. And rearing it's head in my triathlon training. I feel like I'm conducting my workouts, like I used to conduct my precious 4th graders that I had in my classroom lab class I had to take when I was 19.
The water, the bike, my feet are the instruments. And I'm making music as I go.
Now don't let that blow your hair back too far. I realize this sounds mucho cheeze-ball deluxe over here. But it's working for me. And I got a chance to try it this weekend.
YESTERDAY!!!
I did an INTERNATIONAL DISTANCE triathlon.
*** SIDE NOTE: Was I the only moron that didn't know that Olympic distance and International distance were different. Could have fooled me! International has an extra 5k tagged to the bike distance. 40k vs 45k. Nothing makes Lacy more aggravated than getting to mile 22.5 of the course thinking ALMOST DONE...and finding out I'm not. Grrrr...Extra mileage appreciated...but at the time, I was nonplussed.
This was my first international distance...as I've only done Olympic distance because I didn't know the difference. Anyways...it was in Boerne. And I'm going to say this about you race coordinating people up in Boerne.
From now on, when you say "soft rolling hills" I'm going to go ahead and just keep in mind that you mean "chip sealed road mini mountains for miles"...kthanks. That bike ride was brutal. I have never pushed so hard on the ups, and I had to keep myself from getting well into the 35+ mph zone on the regular on the downhills. Fun, but scary. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! (probably peed my pants a little).
My swim was good. I had swam in the lake before, so I knew what I was getting into. My first 300m or so were tough because I forced myself, FORCED MYSELF, to not get into the water last. I started with the pack and got kicked and elbowed, and fought...because I need the practice and Kristofor told me I had to. (I do listen to him, occasionally....). I was going all over the place, not in a straight line at all. As I headed to the first buoy, I knew I had probably swam a bit extra with all the weaving. As I got close, I decided to calm it down, and I started thinking about "sighting"
SIGHTING: The magical art of swimming, and interrupting your stroke so that you can look up and see where you are at and make sure you haven't swam wwwwwaaaaayyyyyy off course. Which is my favorite thing to do ever.
It's hard to practice in the pool because you are in a lane, but I took yesterday as an opportunity to try it out. And guess what. GUESS FRIGGIN' WHAT. I did it to a rhythm. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6(LOOK UP)! over and over and over...AND IT WORKED!!!! I went in a straight line, and I even passed some people which has never ever happened on a swim because I am slow. SLOW SLOW. I wasn't even close to last out of the water which was a HUGE deal for me. 38:34 for 1500meters. Over 2 min faster than last years time. Improvement. I think I'm about to hit a breakthrough on the swimming. I feel it.
Out of the water and I got through transition 1 with no hiccups. I'd like to thank Powerbar Gel for their amazing new blueberry banana fruit mashy things that I can slurp down like a champ. Those things were clutch for me yesterday. It was overcast, so not too hot, and I took off on my bike, down on my aero bars, new Tifosi (LOVE THEM) sunglasses on my face, ready to kick butt. Until I hit the FRESH chip sealed (its that rocky kind of asphalt that makes your teeth chatter and feel like your bike is falling apart...) frontage road that had an immediate hill climb.
This was my toughest bike course to date. You never were really flat for long, it was always up up up or down down. At one point I was climbing so hard, I was going 5mph feeling like I was doing 100+lb leg presses over and over. I switched to my small wheel gear (just learning that one...) and it didn't help a whole lot. I suffered through it. I took advantage to really save my legs when I was flying down the hills. I saw Kristofor about mile 8.5 (he was coming back in...), and he said "It gets worse." GEEE THANKS HUN! I was already dying...but he was right. Toughest course for sure. And then tacking on 3 extra miles was an unpleasant surprise. I dismounted my bike (like everyone around me at that point), and walked up one of the last hills.
When I got into T2, I took some time to drink my hot powerade and down a PowerBar gel with mucho caffeination, and I accidentally stepped across the run start line BEFORE I stopped at the first water stop. So I started my run time early without knowing it, OOPS! But then I took off.
And I mean I took off.
WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!! Last year I could not, repeat, COULD NOT, run off my bike. AT ALL. I almost quit the island tri because I was so cramped up and couldn't hardly walk a mile let alone run a 10k. Yesterday, I clipped my first mile at under 8min. And other than the 4 water stops to grab wet towels, down powerade, and douse myself with water (it was 85 degrees by then and the sun had come out), I kept a pretty even 8:20-8:30 pace (finished in about 58 min). I walked up one hill (Did I mention that the run was also super hilly...and HOT???).
But I felt amazing. I didn't even feel like I was going that pace. I passed a lot of people (that's a huge confidence builder for me...as last year...I came in LAST at both tries). I had several people yell "great pace" "good form!" "you are burning it up girl"...and I couldn't help but smile. I almost got teary eyed. Kristofor can tell you, as someone who spectated me last year. I have come a long long long way. So I'm going to be proud of myself. Because yesterday I didn't just finish. I finished strong. I couldn't say that last year.
As I came to the finish line, Kristofor was waiting to take my picture!
FINISHING!
I was super excited! As we went over to transition to start packing our stuff, I had to have my picture taken doing my now signature triumphant pose "teen physique"
Doing my best MSHELLL Impression.
I think when I finish Ironman, I will probably bust out "teen physique".
**What is teen physique??? Well, in bodybuilding competitions, for women, there are categories, bikini, figure, then physique. The physique class for women is like bodybuilding-esque but still very feminine...and they do little routines to show of their amazing muscles. I joke that I could win the teen physique category....because there are rarely any competitors, and I look like a teenager. So I would definitely win. It's now my favorite pose. I actually can do an entire physique routine. It's fairly impressive....(not so much).
While waiting around for awards, I got to talking to a lady that had an Ironman Texas shirt on. Come to find out, she too is training for Cozumel in December! And she intro-ed me to another lady that is doing it as well! It's not their first IM, so I'm super grateful to now be in touch with fellow competitors that are not IM rookies that are doing the same race! Very exciting! And then...
I WON A TROPHY! I stinking love trophies. It's the best.
2nd PLACE in my age group!! 13th Woman Overall
All in all, this was a great experience for me. I know without a doubt, I have a ton of work to do in the next 16 weeks. A TON. But I'm confident that if I keep at it, getting all my workouts in, pushing the envelope on my bike (meaning riding in the wind even when it sucks big time), I'll come out ok. Please pray for an injury free training season. I've been so lucky lately with that, I have felt awesome! Today, I'm sore from all the hills, so I'm using this as my one rest day to recoup.
One thing I can definitely say is that I'm determined. I'm committed. I know that doing this means that I won't always get to do the fun stuff on the weekends, because I'll have early morning bike rides and bricks. And I know that as the training days get longer, I'm going to have to really balance my energies to make sure I keep my home life, work life, and training life all in sync. But that's the thing when you want something.
You sacrifice. I told my girls this week. Nothing easy was ever worth it. If you want something bad enough, you are going to have to endure some sacrifice to earn it. REALLY EARN IT. Whether what you want is to lose weight, build muscle, train for a show, run a half, run a full, whatever. It all involves sacrifice. Some days will be harder than others, some days you want to quit. But if it's important to you, you will find a way. You'll put the crap food down, you'll stop drinking like 80 beers on the weekend, you'll make it into the gym, you'll put in your long runs, whatever. If you want it, you have to do it. If you don't really want it, you won't. And you have to be ok with your choice, because only YOU can make that choice. You can make the choice to do it, or make and excuse. You pick.
I pick. I choose. I choose to work my ass off for the next 16 weeks. Until I am crossing that finish line after a full day's work, after all of these weeks of training. And I will bust out my "teen physique". Because I will be an Ironman. Can't stop me.
Thanks for cheering me on!
Lacy
