It was early in the morning, probably around 4:45a.m. I had 5 hours of spinning ahead of me, indoors, alone!!! I hadn’t had my worship yet so I spent the first hour listening to a sermon. The sermon was great and spoke to my heart but once the sermon was over reality hit and I realized I still had 4 hours of spinning left. Immediately thoughts of doubt started to creep into my mind. I started asking myself if I really needed to do such a long spin, the answer was an emphatic YES. Next I started to think of all the other things I could be doing and should be doing, but then I reminded myself that I had signed up for the Ironman and I better be getting my hours in on the bike. My next struggle was sleepiness!!! I nearly fell asleep, while pedaling, three different times. It wasn’t a good feeling. It was kind of like the feeling you get when driving a car tired. You know you can’t sleep but you would do anything to be in bed. After two hours of spinning I beat the fatigue and was able to keep pushing through. Now I only had 3 hours left. I had done 3 hours many times so I knew I was capable. I had to get my mind in the right place, focused and determined!! Focusing on each set and repetition helped the time go by pretty fast actually. Next thing I knew I only had 2 hours left. Jamie and Tucker came to the spin club to visit me which gave me a boost. It was really helpful to see their wonderful faces and to feel their support. The last hour and a half I spent thinking about race day. I imaged myself experiencing the whole event. I thought about the spectators, the brutal swim, the rolling bike hill course and how I would feel when I first started the marathon run. All of these thoughts got me pumped. I was able to finish my 5 hour spin and do a 30 minute t-run in the pouring rain. I felt great during the run which was an added bonus. The 5 hour spin marked the end of my March training.
March has been a good training month but has definitely had its challenges. I have done a lot of long spins topping out at 5 hours. I have done two 15 mile high elevation gain runs and some other long runs. I am now swimming 3,500 yards twice a week and doing t-runs 2-3 times per week. On a typical training week I am running every day of the week which is good since my run needs some strengthening. I have been doing long runs, negative split runs, hill runs, etc. Bikes have included long distance, turbo, high cadence, gear grinding hills, etc. My swims all include technique, distance and some speed work. My family and I have gotten sick twice during March which is not good. Lack of sleep is doing it to me, I swear. I have to get up early to get my training in every day of the week except Saturday. Often I can’t get to bed when I want to because of work, grading, cleaning, house work, laundry, sick baby, etc. I feel exhausted more than I should. My goal has been to do most of my training early morning so that I don’t interrupt my family’s schedule. I have been doing pretty well at it until lately. Now the runs and bikes are getting so long it totally interrupts the family. Either I am gone or I am home but tired. Only because of my fight for sleep do I look forward to the Ironman finish line other than that I don’t want to see it come to an end.
There is so much preparation that goes into such a long distance race; so much time, energy, and mental prep. I can feel race day approaching so quickly. Before I know it the day will be over; a whole year’s work over in one day. It makes me a bit nervous. I feel like July 22 is going to be such a “high” and when it’s all over I’m not going to know what to do with myself. Several of my training buddies told me to have something to work towards after the Ironman. For the past couple of months I have been thinking about what I would like to do next, something that is challenging and yet won’t take so much time away from the family. So…my next goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. For the first time in 20 years they have shortened qualifying times by 5 minutes in each age category making it a bit harder. I would need to run a marathon in 3:34:59 and not even one second slower. Running is not my strength so this would be a great accomplishment for me. I am excited to try and keep trying until I run Boston!!!! I was 8 minutes too slow during the Maine marathon this past October so I need to cut at least 8 minutes off my total time.
The other thing that I am looking forward to after Ironman is baby number 2!! We will be ready to extend our family and add another little munchkin into the family. Once kiddo number 2 comes along my family has asked me not to train for Ironman for awhile since it takes a lot of time away from the family. I will listen to their wishes BUT someday I want to do another ironman and someday, even if it’s when I’m 70, I would love to qualify for Kona!!
Even after kiddo number two I hope to continue to do half-ironman distances every summer and a several marathons each year. This will help keep me in some kind of shape and will feed my need for exercise.
April training here I come!!! April, May, June and July!!! Little less than 4 months left and each one needs to count BIG time!!! I will keep you posted.
Happy training, Alicia
