Monday, February 22, 2010

Ironman challenge and last minute me

I have all kinds of excuses (weather, sickness, change in job schedule), but the fact remains I'm short of my goals.

You see, I'm doing one of those train the Ironman distances in a month challenge: Swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles. Right now I'm at:
  • 950 yards (or a little over a half mile) for the swim
  • 64 miles for the bike and
  • 12 miles for the run
Oh, and I have until Sunday to complete it. So, here's the plan.

I'm taking a spin class Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm averaging about 20 miles per class, so that'll nudge me right over the goal and then some.

On Tuesday and Friday, I'll run 5 miles each day and on Sunday I'll finish out the remaining 4.2 miles.

On Thursday, I'll swim 1,500 yards and on Sunday I'll finish it out.

I'm running out of time on this challenge, but by golly I AM going to make it! (That's right. You just read someone use the phrase "by golly.")

Sunday, February 7, 2010

I joined the Pod

I'm heading in to my third season of triathlons. When I first started researching this sport, I quickly learned that audio devices (we'll just call 'em iPods for the purposes of this post) are illegal in a race and you can get penalized if caught using them. I also quickly learned to train like you race.

So, because you can't listen to an iPod during your race, I didn't want to train using one because I didn't want it to throw me off come race day.

With it being so cold and my reluctance to venture outside increasing, I started going to the Y to hit the treadmill. As usual, it's difficult to go even a half mile before I begin to daydream about the belt malfunctioning and me fatally hitting my head.

This boredom presented a dilemma. Because I'm training for a half iron distance, I need to be putting in more mileage and if the treadmill's the most practical place to get it done, I needed to find a way to make it work.

I decided to revisit my iPod philosophy.

I've heard so many say how much easier it is to get through a treadmill run with an iPod. Despite my aforementioned reasons for not using one, I went to Best Buy and purchased an iPod Shuffle.

WOW! Why did I wait so long? The first time I used it, I found myself at mile three with the desire to go even further! The only reason I didn't is because I had to get ready for spin class.

What a gift! I feel like my training has a sense of renewal and I'm hopeful about keeping up my running mileage the remainder of the winter.

Maybe I'll ditch the iPod when I go back outside running, or just practice running without it a couple weeks before a race.

What I will do is never, ever head to the Y without this little buddy in my pocket to keep me company.

Thank you all you technology people!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...