ironman training chronicles

It's that time of year again. Training is in full force. Kick my ass full force. I'm surprised daily at what I'm able to endure, and even more surprised daily when I open up training peaks and see what my coach thinks I can endure… Here are some of my latest observations!

  • First and foremost the Ironman tapeworm has found it's way back into my belly. I'm hungry. A lot. Even when I think I'm not hungry, I'll eat cause I need to refuel, and then after I eat… I'm hungry. How is this possible?
  • For instance today this is what I have consumed thus far; peanut butter toast, 1power gel, plain toast with 3 egg whites, mushrooms, tomato & feta scramble, a piece of lasagna leftover from dinner the other night, 2 fruit leather strips, 2 dove dark chocolates - dipped in peanut butter of course, an apple, some cottage cheese and strawberries.
  • It's only 4pm…..
  • Oh, and did I mention I only did an 80min bike ride today? I'm hoping this is hunger leftover from Mt. Lemmon/2:40 run & 3000meter swim?
  • Speaking of swim I had the pleasure of swimming with ER yesterday. She mentioned on Facebook she was in town so I took the opportunity to ask/beg her to come keep me company. We'd never talked about swim pace before, but honestly I didn't care if she lapped me or I lapped her, I needed some serious motivation so I wanted any company I could get!
  • Turns out she's a GREAT swimmer. I forgot how much I missing swimming with people that PUSH me. I don't go to a masters swim because I do my run or bike workouts in the am. I used to do a noon masters swim, but the people that used to push me there, kinda stopped showing up. Don't get me wrong… I'm not a total sandbagger…but when I looked at my 100 splits and realized that my "steady" 100s were just a few seconds slower than what I've been doing on my "fast" 100s lately… and then my fast 100s were 2-3 seconds faster than I ever hit in this particular pool…. Yah, apparently I just need someone to swim next to me, then in front of me so I can chase.
  • Did I mention I did an 18+mile run earlier that am? And STILL had some great splits (for me)? yah… something is up. I need me a rabbit to chase in the pool. Or fish, if you will.
  • Back to Facebook. I know it's cheesy and immature and a completely self indulgent waste of time…BUT I don't care. I work from home, by myself and it keeps me entertained. It's like people.com for the everyday person. And, give me any trashy magazine & I will keep myself entertained for hours on end with the gossip… so, I suppose Facebook does the same exact thing.
  • Not to mention it's like a free advertisement for your every desire. Need a swimming partner, cry out for help, see who responds = a FANTASTIC swim workout when you started with a 50/50% chance of making it to the pool in the first place.
  • I currently have a "want ad" out looking for company on my weekend riding. 100miles on Saturday, 3hrs on Sunday. WHO'S IN?
  • The more I train, the more I want stuff. I will go through stages of how I NEED all sorts of things like this and this and this and most of all THIS.
  • A girl can dream, right?
  • I'm getting old. Or, triathlon is making me LOOK old. I've recently succumbed to buying outrageously overpriced skin care products, particularly sun screen. I used to throw whatever on my skin, even my face. Banana boat, sure. Then, I started noticing all these THINGS. Lines, not so freckly looking freckles/sun spots… ugh. My tan lines are no longer cool. I remember when I started swimming with momo several years ago she was always freaking out about her skin. I thought she was nuts. She has great olive colored-youthful skin. She was always buying these crazy ass products and putting stuff on that made all the sun stuff peel off. I was all, whatever - tan is COOL.
  • Did I mention she's a few years old than me… and apparently wiser. I am now at that stage where I think that my face is going to fall off and I will pay with my left arm for the tiniest bottle of sunscreen for my face.
  • Lest you think I'm going to look OLD from this damn sport.
  • I still love sitting at the beach. I might be one of those people under the umbrella that I've always made fun of tho very very soon…
  • Shit, I am old
  • Coke. I've drank, drunk.. oh whatever I never claimed to be an English major, clearly. My point is I can't seem to get enough coke. I really only drink water & ice tea, an occasional coke here and there, but I honestly think I've had more coke (fully leaded, I don't do diet) in the past 2 weeks of training then the past year all together. It's saved my a@@ on a couple of long training rides and it was what got me back home on a miserable long run a couple of weeks ago. I can't figure out why I'm craving it so much more than ever before? I'm usually all sugared out after all the crap I have to consume during training that all I want is SALT. Hmm.
  • I think my wonderful little magic pills are doing wonders for my salt addiction. I heart e21!
And that my friends is how the mind of a crazy ironman in training rolls :-)

Comments

Molly said…
This post just completely cracks me up! I'm so jealous of the heavy training - can't wait to get to IM training and *really* get to eat everything in sight.

I hear you on the sunscreen bit - I found a few new sunspots after that trip to AZ :(
April 19, 2011 at 9:41 PM
momo said…
you're lucky you're starting earlier. :) i didn't worry bout my face till i was in my LATE 30's. and you are NOT old. big j is old. ;-)
April 20, 2011 at 7:34 AM
Elizabeth said…
I was thrilled to swim with you, I didn't care about pace, shit I didn't even care if we stood at the wall talking for an hour and I am sure I could have!!

Secondly, my tanning comment and desire was completely out of left field for me. I am scared to death of looking like a piece of leather in 5-10 years. My skin was covered in waterproof 50spf for body and 75spf for my face while we were swimming. The burn on my back from last weekend was a brutal reminder that there are more parts on my body than just my face that are in need of sunscreen!

Keep up the great work Krista!! :))
April 20, 2011 at 1:16 PM
Kate said…
I miss the days of training like that! They will be back but not for a while. :( I just started worrying about the sun stuff too!! What products are you using now?
April 23, 2011 at 5:30 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IMCDA #7 -- The Sunset Year

Image
It's been two months since Ironman CDA. The last Ironman CDA. It was a late registration for me.  After a couple stressful and busy years, I wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle another long event or take the year off. But, as per usual, as the training progressed so did my desire to race. About a week after I finally pulled the trigger and registered, the rumors started going around about it being the last year for the event in my favorite town. Denial at it's best, I didn't believe it. They still had another year on the contract so surely they would honor that.... Turns out, choosing to race this year is something I'll forever be thankful for. Being able to run down the finish line on Sherman for the last time is truly a blessing. There are a lot of things that made this year so special. I had 3 athletes racing that day, my BFFs in town cheering all day with Shane and what I felt like was a million people rooting for me. Earlier in the year I set a goal of gettin
Read more

Kona 23'

Image
It's been a while! I started this blog/journal to document training adventures for my first Ironman in 2007. It was a fun adventure and *back then* blogging was the social media of today. It connected me with so many special people that I met and continue to keep in contact with (albeit, not enough). Life got busy, training was more of a lifestyle then a new adventure and sharing my daily with the world became just, well irrelevant. While so much has changed since my last post, there is still a lot of the same. My love for swimming, biking and running, dogs and wine is still there, but my desire to keep pushing and find new boundaries has definitely faded. Over 20 years in this endurance world I've found more in myself then I ever dreamed possible. I've met the most amazing people and traveled to beautiful places.  In 2021 after several years of pandemic chaos, I brought myself back to top end fitness and lined up for my 14th Ironman and 8th IMCDA. I had a solid day, 6th in
Read more

Coeur d'Alene Scenic Challenge

Relays are FUN. Seriously... no stress, just show up & do your part! I've done one relay before, in Mexico - I totally forgot how much fun they can be. The CDA triathlon is something I found on line a LONG time ago. I don't even know why I was looking at races in this area, because we had not started our plans to come here for the summer yet. Anyhow - I looked it up for this summer, and if happened to fall the week after Troika, what was supposed to be our 'A' race.... Had I only known..... So, still not wanting to give up on the race, I put out an "Ad" on Facebook looking for someone to join Shane & I for a team. My only thing - I was going to swim. After swimming in 2 different, not so pretty lakes this summer I wanted to swim in CDA. Not to mention I had had about enough with my sub par swim times lately..... Sure enough my Facebook post worked and within 24hours of posting we had a runner. How cool is this. A girl that I have not seen f
Read more