My 1st Ironman NIGHTMARE!

So, I finally had it. My very first Ironman nightmare. Now, don't get me wrong, I've had the "race dreams." You know, the ones we ALL have where you.....

Missed the start
Forgot gear

Didn't tie shoelaces

Forgot to put goggles on

No wetsuit

No water bottles

No Nutrition

CAN'T seem to run.. anywhere...

Ringing a bell?

Well, my IM Nightmare was a little different. It's actually kind of a blur, not a very vivid dream, at least it wasn't once I was awake. BUT, what I do know is that my legs were THROBBING in the dream. I was thinking the whole time - how can I do an IRONMAN when my legs are hurting and it hasn't even started??

Of course the dream is already a distant memory, but I certainly made a note of why on earth I'd be dreaming about tired legs. Well, I am pretty sure it had something to do with Saturday's ride.

As you may have read, I had a pretty good ride, considering the weather on Saturday. Well, I certainly paid for it on Sunday. Oh man... my legs had that unforgettable dead weight feeling. Between that & the NON-STOP hunger, I was useless. I somehow managed to get the house vacuumed, a Costco trip in & a bunch of laundry done, but when it came time to actually making dinner, I turned to Shane & asked "how does Nellos sound?" Sure enough that's what we had. And, I have to admit for the first time all day my hunger was finally satisfied :-)

As for the tired legs, well... as you can see in this picture, I guess more than just myself needed some R&R (the kids ran 7miles with Sara, Jeff & Shane that am)... Note how Shiny they are. THEY needed baths BAD!!

So, what did I decide to do next? For some reason I decided to challenge these legs & do my "moderate" 1:10 run on hills. Not only did I do them once, but twice on my route. I still kept my moderate HR zone though (zone 2, -5beats), so it was very good.

When I got home I decided to take care of these legs so that nightmare didn't come back to haunt me. I put my swimsuit on, a fleece jacket, grabbed my recovery drink (this is the only one that my lactose intolerant tummy can handle) & put my legs (thigh high) in my 50deg pool. OUCH, OUCH, OUCH.

BTW - this point determined my fate of NOT doing the 2.4mile open water swim (local) at the end of the month. If my pool is this cold, HOW cold is Lake Pleasant??

Now, I was able to tolerate the pool for about 15mins. Of course the legs are now NUMB. However, what I was NOT able to tolerate was how much fun Baxter was having bringing his tennis ball RIGHT to me an PLOPPING it the water, making sure that the splash was big enough to get me.... Little shit...

On to my next subject. SWIMMING.

Last Friday I tested out my new toy - my tempo trainer.

Anne, the masters swim coach helped me play with the timing.

We started out at 1:15 (this means the little guy "beeps" every 1.15 second" and you are supposed to have your hand hitting the water at that time)

It was hard for me. I felt awkward... I think my stroke count was 16 each way (25yards) & the 50yard time was :46

We played with it all the way down to :90 where my stroke count was 18 & my time went down to :40. She said that we had not hit my "threshold" yet. The threshold would be when I started to slow down or my stroke count was increasing too much.

So, Monday I decided to try the little guy out. Our main set consisted of some sets of 600. I used the tempo trainer for a few of them.

#1 - 600 at Level 2. I set the trainer for 1:00. I didn't count my strokes, but my time was 9:49 for the 600yards

#2 600 - First 300 at level 2, last 300 at Level 4 (about race pace for me). I set the trainer for :96. I ignored it for the first 6 laps, then got on tempo with the beep for the second half. My time was 9:08. Wow, it's really working. Something I noticed in this set was that the tempo seemed a little slow at first, but as I got to the end of it, my LEFT arm was struggling to keep up. I guess I'm a lot weaker on that side.

#3 600 - First 200 at level 2, last 400 at level 4. Again, I kept it set to :96 & just ignored it for the first 200. My time... 8:19!!!!! I was SO excited. If I were to equate that pace out to an Ironman swim, the pace is like a 58:30 or something like that for 4200yards! Pretty crazy huh?

So, I've decided I'm going to try to practice with this little gadget on my long sets... Then, see if my times improve when I don't have it. Can I keep up the tempo without the thing beeping in my ear?

We'll soon find out!!!

~Cheers...