Plan B HURTS

Well, I'm officially into Plan B training. Holy Heck it hurts. Ok, it's not that I'm training any different or harder, I think I was just so mentally ready to take some time off and now my body is mad at me. Of course I'm too stubborn to give in to my body, so it's a few more weeks of "Suck it Up Butter Cup!"

Or something like that.

I met with a coach last Thursday to help devise a 5 week plan to get me ready for the 109mile El Tour de Tucson bike race, as well as a half marathon a couple weeks after.

His plan, totally doable.

My pre-plan "plan" STUPID.

It started off with easy Wed, Thursday workouts. My lungs are better each day, but last week they were still hurting quite a bit.

Then come Saturday, off with the easy in with the kick my own ass. I learned a few things in the 4hours of calf torture that was my bike ride.

* No wonder cyclist have killer calves. ROAD bikes are SO different than Tri-Bikes.
* Riding 4 hours for the first time on a new bike, road bike none the less, is DUMB.
* Especially when that 4 hours is mostly flat, and you are riding with someone who is peak IM training and has aero bars
* Seriously, I love mini-me even more now. And, I LOVE aerobars!
* My body was really ready for a break from these long rides.
* IM AZ bike course is FAST. If you have aerobars and a tri-fit that is. Oh - and no wind. 2 hour loops, TOTALLY doable! I'm excited for all you doing it in a few weeks!
* That being said, I have NO desire to ever do that race. It's boring. And Ugly. For some people fast trumps boring. I'm just not one of them.

In that 4 hours I offered Melisa $100 to switch me bikes for the ride back. My calves hurt THAT bad. I don't think I've ever even noticed my calves on my tri-bike.

So, after that 4 hour torture fest Momo, Natalie & I met for an early morning DOWNHILL run. We drove up into North Scottsdale for a one way run. Most my runs are rolling runs. Some up, some down. Not this one. This one was a net descend of 800ft. Why would I torture myself with that? ITBS and all?

The half marathon in Plan B is downhill. About 800ft in total. I needed to make sure my IT band could handle it.

It was rockin fast run, even in the middle of zone 2. I had some twinges of pain, but mostly still my calves and some in my hips. A little knee pain, but not buckling pain.

It's now Wednesday and I'm STILL sore. My calves are so tight that when I get out of bed I basically walk flat foot because it hurts to push off and use my calves.

And, now that I have this official plan.... I chose to do my long runs on Weds. Yah, didn't so much think that one through when I killed myself on SUNDAY and had another 90 min run today. 2 10+milers with only 2 days rest is not a good idea. I made it though, and very happy I had absolutely NO IT band pain.

So the next 2 weeks will be building up my mileage and numbing my butt for 109miles on November 22nd. I'm still harassing Supa to come do it with me. Now that she doesn't have the election excuse anymore, I TOTALLY think she needs to do it. FOR ME!

And 2 weeks after that I will be putting my legs to test and trying to PR (should be hard) at the Tucson half marathon.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting over the last week. I am so tired and sore and ready for this to be over with, but at the same time I just can't live with letting all the hard work and progress I had after Ironman CDA go to waste. I don't have anything to prove to anyone, but I want to do this for myself. I want to show myself that all my hardwork is worth it, and that I can overcome just about anything.

I know that I have some physical limitations, but we all do. And, we all have our own way of getting through them. I guess this is my way. Not letting go.

That said, I am sure I was thoroughly enjoy our time over the Holidays in Mexico this year. Maybe it will be Shane trying to get ME to walk to the bar this time, you know...for exercise :-)