And the countdown begins… T-minus 7 days till Rev3 Maine Half-Ironman…

I officially began taper last Thursday. The weekend of the 11th/12th contained my last big long run and brick workout. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite go as planned. I had to change my Thursday and Friday workouts around due to a work conflict. I wasn’t feeling the best on Friday. I had leftovers for lunch on Friday and they just didn’t sit right for the rest of the day. The weather that Friday wasn’t great. The fog had rolled in and it was a light rain. I don’t mind riding in the rain, but fog is another story. I decided to play it safe and ride the trainer indoors. It was a super tough workout to boot! Three intervals of 12 minutes with 4 min @ 60% FTP, 80% FTP, and 100% FTP with five minutes easy spin between each 12 minute interval. I made it through the first two intervals, but pretty much died on the last. I was feeling shaky and literally sweated several pounds worth of sweat all over my poor bike and the carpet. I got off my bike and succeed to drink a couple bottles of water. My body was done. I wasn’t feeling well. My gut was not pleased with my earlier food choices and was making itself known. I showered, weighed myself to see how much sweat I lost, and went to bed after eating a banana. BAD! Yes, I knew I needed to eat food to nourish my poor body, but when I don’t feel well I loose my appetite and I have a hard time forcing myself to eat.

My puddles of sweat on the floor… next time a bucket to catch it all!

I got up around 5am to get ready to go to a boot camp class, but I about passed out on my way to the bathroom. Back to bed. I woke up later feeling better, so I had a large breakfast of oatmeal, yogurt, and some eggs. I drank lots of water and finally felt good enough to knock off my 1:45 long run. I knew my body was still weak from hardly eating anything the day before, but I wanted and needed to get the run done because I had to work in the afternoon. My hands were shaking as I was putting my contacts in, but I completely ignored the signs that I probably shouldn’t run. I strapped my Garmin on and headed out the door. The first 3 miles were uneventful, but a little slower than normal. I was okay with that. Then it hit me! My body was starting to bonk. Mentally I kept telling myself to keep going. You’re going to do an Ironman next year! You need to be mentally strong. Mind over matter! Blah, blah, blah…

I began playing the “run to the next mailbox or house” game. That worked for awhile. Then I hit mile 5 and my body was done. DONE. I walked the last mile home. I was light headed, a little dizzy, and just nausea. The worst part of the whole ordeal was the fact I knew exactly what I was doing and that it was a very bad idea. I chose to ignore my voice of reasoning and just do what I pleased. Moral of the story… Nutrition is key!

Sunday’s workout was much, much better! I met up with a fellow TriMoxie athlete and swam about 1.2 miles at Kettle Cove. It was foggy, rainy, and very wavy in the ocean, but not a bad swim. I swam through a ton of seaweed, but at this point it doesn’t bother me. After swimming, I ate a big lunch and hung out at work till my 2 hour and 40 minute bike and 40 min T-run. It was a HUGE workout too. I’m pretty sure my coach was trying to kill me! It contained 4 x 3:30 sprints, 2 x 12 min @ HIM watts and 4 x 2 mins @ VO2max wattage. I forgot to upload the workout details to my Garmin and thus had to resort to writing my workout on my arm in Sharpie since I always forget my workouts as soon as I step out the door.

The workout of the day

The ride was good. I felt good on the bike, but I was seriously hurting after the ride because it was a tough workout. The weather was pretty good. It rained in parts and sunny and humid in others. I usually go through about a bottle an hour for hydration, but I finished my 3 bottles within 2.5 hours. I was thirsty and it was a bit odd. As soon as I got back to my car I chugged a cold bottle of water before heading out for 40 minutes of running. The run was okay. My legs felt okay, but didn’t have the strength to run fast. Those sprints on the bike (which occurred on the hilliest part of my route) killed my legs. My left side cramped up a bit from all the water chugging in “transition.” I made it though and was done with my last big brick before race day!

Ice bath after a tough brick workout

Last week I had good workouts. My body was tired though and very ready to begin taper that Thursday. I ended up taking Friday off too to rest my body. I needed too. My right hip has been bothering me for the past week or so. I felt super good on Saturday for my run. Azul went into the shop on Thursday to get a tune-up, race wheels (thanks Bike Shop Boy for the borrowed wheels!), and new bar tape (Lizard tape is the best!). She is now one sleek and mean racing machine!

Azul is one sexy bike! 🙂

On Sunday I headed out to Kettle Cove again for a short swim and also to watch a little bit of the Tri for Preservation. My coach took 2nd overall because she is just awesome! 🙂 I then headed to Panera for some lunch and work/school stuff for awhile. After a few hours of computer work I headed out to ride in the Cumberland/Yarmouth area. I only had a 2 hour ride with 3 x 10 min @ HIM watts followed by a 40 min T-run with 3 x 5 min @ HIM pace. This was my first ride ever with race wheels! It’s hard to tell if I was faster with the wheels. I think I would have to ride both sets on the same course, in the same conditions, etc… BUT, I could definitely feel the difference in the ride. SO much smoother! Plus, they make cool “woshing” noises. I’ve decided that Bike Shop Boy is going to have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands before I give them back! I know that won’t fly with him, so I decided that either I’m going to sell one of my kidneys or start fighting all the hobos for the cans and bottles on the side of the road to return! I only need to collect about 54,000 cans! Start drinking people!! I need Zipp 404s!

My T-run went absolutely beautifully! I felt super strong and my legs were ready to fly off the bike. I even ran slightly faster than HIM goal pace during my intervals. I’m hoping I feel this great on race day! After the brick it was home with another ice bath, compression tights, foam rolling, and a good solid dinner.

Rev3 is in 7 days! I’m excited. I’ve been ready for this race for the past three weeks. At this point I just want to get it over with. It’s my “A” race and I have been training for it the past 8 months. After signing up for Lake Placid though, my mind is already focused on next year. I still care about this race, but next year really is the big dance and I can’t be more excited! I’m very excited about seeing how much my overall fitness has improved and putting in a good, solid race to end my tri season. Mentally and physically I’m ready for next Sunday. I have my race plan from my coach and I have a goal time to finish. So far the weather is looking to be good. I know my wattage/pace and nutrition plan. What’s really nice about this race is that I know so many people from various walks of life doing this race. I’m competitive and that will definitely help drive me to meet my goal time. I’m ready to leave everything out on the course. I just need to be smart this week with nailing my workouts, getting enough sleep, proper nutrition, making sure my gear is ready, and staying mentally strong. I’m ready… Let’s GO!