Rest and Inspiration!

I can't believe it's been over a week since my last update! There are a number of reasons for this: a 4-day weekend with no real training, the heat may have gone to my head, and the Tour de France is so controversial that I can hardly concentrate on anything at all!

Last Tuesday I did my first lane swim in an outdoor pool. It felt quite fabulous and now I'm trying to make my two swims during the week be in the outdoor pool. It takes a lot of planning to take my swimming gear to work, the pool, to work, and back home again. That is probably my biggest challenge right now: planning. Especially when I'm trying to find a way to carry all of my gear for bike riding AND swimming in one day, all based around work. Whew! It's tiring!

That being said, I'm growing ever-more confident that I will, indeed, complete my first Ironman. I feel stronger than I ever have before and I've been training in the heat to prepare my body for the hell that will be Penticton in August. Running in 35oC heat always causes me to have thoughts like, "I have to stop. I can't do this." However, I overcome those thoughts with how it is good training and I can most definitely do this! This mental training is just as important as the physical training that I'm doing.

Last weekend I had a 4-day weekend. There is a wonderful music festival in the boreal forest that feeds my soul with music, food, wonderful people, and lots of dancing. It is the one weekend a year that I leave my running shoes at home. Despite it being an inconvenient time of year, it is very important to me to have this weekend of solace from training. It's important so that I can continue my training with vigour and passion. That being said, it is also kind of difficult to get back into the swing of training once a lull has occurred. So I am taking it slowly but surely. This weekend I'm planning a 6-hour bike ride with a 1/2 hour run afterwards.

I have also been trying to fit in time to watch the Tour de France and to tend to my garden, both equally important to me. The garden is mostly weeded and I'm feeling better about it. The Tour, however, is a gong show. Doping and controversy hover over the race like a dark cloud and it's discouraging to watch. Rasmussen, the man in the yellow jersey, has just been kicked out of the race by his team. I imagine that his team found out he has been doping or transfusing his blodd and his team wanted to save their ass. As an athlete and a cyclist, it makes me a bit jaded. I understand that these riders are under a lot of pressure, but it hurts the riders, the sport, and the fans who defend them continuously. Not to mention their sponsors. After so many years of the TdF, will people continue to put up with this bullshit? I am not sure. Every year I watch it as much as I can (although this year has been sparse because of so much training and other stuff going on in my life) and I even get cable just to watch it. Perhaps I won't do that next year, I'll just read the cycling news networks to find out who is doping, transfusing, or getting kicked off of his respective team. Or perhaps I'll be a die-hard and just put up with it. At this point, I have to wonder if anybody in the tour ISN'T doping. Oh well, I'll just keep watching so much and hope that a something good happens.

As for the rest of my training, it's all coming along nicely. I'm incorporating more yoga and meditation, which are treating me right. My body feels so good now. I think I could do Ironman right now. It's a great feeling for sure.

Balance shmalance

I know it has been almost a month since my last update. There really is no excuse. However, I guess it could be seen as I've been training more than putting time into the internet... and I have. I have been in emotional turmoil about the upcoming Iron(wo)man and considered dropping out. Not because I couldn't do it, but because of the anxiety that I have felt surrounding it. Alas, I decided to suck it up and push on. So that's what I'm doing. I have a whole list of bike ride times that I'll put at the bottom and I did half of one triathlon (it was called after the bike portion because of lightening). However, during that race I was nutritionally superior to any other race I've ever done. I am hoping to continue with that trend for the rest of my races.

In terms of finding a balance, I'm not sure that I have, but I have given up on a lot of things that had been weighing on my mind: First of all, I am not going to have a clean house while I'm training for Ironman and we decided to hire someone to help us with the bathrooms and floors. I think L has accepted this fact and is cool with it, but we both like a level of cleanliness that is mostly obtainable so we're going with that. Also, I'm not volunteering for anything more than I'm already doing (this is a constant battle as I get asked to help out with something almost everyday). Laundry won't always get done, but I will keep my workout gear as clean as possible (not so much a choice as a necessity - especially bike shorts!). And finally, my bikes get priority over my car - this is just a reality in my life and I like it that way.

This weekend is my first long race of the year - the Great White North half Ironman in Stoney Plain, Alberta. I did this race two years ago and had a great time. Well, the whole thing was great except the run, which was a little painful. I don't really feel prepared for the run, but I am pretty prepared for the rest of it, so I figure it'll all be fine. It's such a great race and I'm glad to have this as my "halfway point" for the summer to Ironman.

So I'm just picking away at my training and I'm reading "Going Long," which is an awesome book. It's inspirational and I wish that I had read it 2 or 3 times over the winter instead of hiring a coach. If I ever do Ironman again, I'm going to shop around for a coach that works well with me. I liked my coach on a personal level, but I'm more of a "why" person and need explanations that I didn't get. Also, I felt a little neglected at times and my questions didn't get answered periodically. So I'm on my own until the race, but am going to seek guidance from a couple of friends and my new "bible."

Here is what my training on the bike has been like (mostly):
June 8
Distance: 33.77 km
Time:1:31:45
Max:37.3 km/h
Average speed: 22.1 km/h

June 9
Distance: 65.13 km
Time:2:46:38
Max: 38.9 km/h
Average speed: 23.4 km/h

June 16
Distance: 15.65 km
Time: 38:11
Max: 50.4 km/h
Average speed: 24.6 km/h

June 17 (ie. Spin off Spadina triathlon)
Distance: 39.28 km
Time: 1:28:01
Max: 39.6 km/h
Average speed: 26.8 km/h

June 23
Distance: 63.19 km
Time: 2:35:19
Max: 33.4 km/h
Average speed: 24.4 km/h