Here we are, six weeks into training for Ironman Texas. If there’s any word I can use to describe it, it would be tired.
So flippin’ tired. Worse than pregnancy tired.
Yesterday I swam in the morning (8 x 75 meter sprints with 20 seconds recovery along with a bunch of drills, 2,100 meters total), I did a bunch of errands, did laundry, then I ran in the afternoon (7 miles equally split between asphalt and trails). I started to make spinach salad for dinner but never finished. About half way though crumbling blue cheese for the dressing I stopped and asked Jason to go get sushi instead. I was done. Totally exhausted.
I fell asleep on the couch at 7 p.m.
I was so tired, I slept the whole night there. On the couch. In my clothes. I never once woke up.
And don’t even get me started on being hungry. Now I know what it’s like to be a teenage boy. I’m officially on the See Food diet: See food? Eat food.
Last night, I took a couple of bites of the aforementioned blue cheese and it and it was SO SALTY and DELICIOUS. I could have eaten the entire bowl standing there at the kitchen counter. I guess I need to up my electrolyte intake a bit.
Because I’m so tired, I’ve stopped drinking alcohol during the work week. I don’t have a high alcohol tolerance and I don’t drink much anyway, maybe four drinks a week total? Two of those on Saturday mornings after my weekly trail run. But I’ve had to stop drinking Monday-Friday almost entirely. The workouts leave me so exhausted on their own, I don’t need any extra help.
I’m on the verge of having to give up my Saturday morning trail run beers, too. Last Saturday, I only ran 7 miles (normally we do 9-10) and I still had to take a 3 hour nap. No bueno.
What workout am I struggling with the most?
The swims. All of them. It’s been cold here (duh, it’s winter), and it’s always cold in my house. I’m cold all the time. And like everything else, the pool at the gym is cold. Every time I walk out of the locker room and into the natatorium, I find myself thinking…
Please be warm.
Please be warm.
Please be warm.
It never is.
I slowly lower myself in the pool, let out a little shriek, then bait myself to finish the workout with the promise of five minutes in the hot tub.
Two-A-Days
I’m used to spending two or more hours a day working out. It’s not something that’s new. What IS new is breaking that 2+ hours up into two segments; I normally do it all at once. Honestly, I’m not really a fan of working out twice a day. I’d much rather do it all in one chunk but I know that that’s not a realistic proposition once the training load increases and I’m doing three or four hours a day instead of two.
The schedule/training plan I wrote is working out nicely. I feel like I’m making progress and I seem to be in about the same spot from a duration/intensity perspective as everyone else who is training. I know, eventually, I will need to get my tail off the trainer and actually ride my bike outside (which will involve flip/flopping my Friday and Saturday workouts) but for now it seems to work. And as long as it works, I’m sticking with it.
Family Life and Workout Balance
For the most part this is going surprisingly well. Well, at least I think so. I you ask Jason, it may be another story – I don’t think he’s a fan of my new 7 p.m. bedtime.
Slowly, I am discovering little life hacks/shortcuts that help get everything done. Sometimes, I’m successful. Sometimes, I’m not. I’m learning to accept both.
Our house, which I normally keep pretty clean, looks like a war zone. Toys everywhere, tumbleweeds of dog hair accumulating in the corners, and clothes laying in the floor exactly where they were taken off. I’m learning to take care of the important stuff and let go of everything else.
Just let it go.
LAUNDRY is the most important chore in the entire house. You’d think it would be cooking or grocery shopping, but nope. Laundry.
You see, if I get desperate I can get pizza or Chinese food delivered, or ask Jason to go get sushi like I did last night, but no one is going to deliver my kid’s laundry into their dressers except me. And if it’s not in my kid’s dressers it will never make it’s way onto their bodies without parental intervention and parental intervention is unlikely if mom is clipped to a bike.
Laundry is king.
I’m slowly settling into a schedule that has me doing laundry all day on Monday, doing school work with Evelyn on Tuesday and Thursday (while Alvy is at preschool), and catching up on other stuff on Wednesday. Fridays I’m almost always gone, either at my grandmother’s house or taking Evelyn to her science class. Saturday a is cleaning day and Sunday is meal planning and grocery shopping. Occasionally, I’ve been running Sunday afternoon to catch up with friends but I am trying to limit that as much as I can.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, I have to make the kids breakfast long before they wake up so I can squeeze in my morning workout, but I’d rather have it done and sitting on the counter waiting for them than have to explain to my four year old son that he needs to wait for mommy to get off her bike before he can eat.
This has involved teaching them how to use the microwave to reheat their cold food – which I think is a good thing? Hopefully Alvy doesn’t try to microwave something other than his breakfast.
Weight Gain/Loss
(I’d like to remind everyone that I’m not doing this to loose weight.)
I have lost a pound, maybe? Honestly, my weight hasn’t changed much. I’m holding steady at the 129-130 pound mark but I can tell the fat is slowly melting. The little pooch in my hips, just above the waist of my workout shorts is getting progressively smaller. I have noticed my thighs slim up a little. Again, nothing huge which I think is good.
When I’m training to race a marathon I want to be lean and as light as possible. Light is fast!! But not for this. Right now, I’m 5 pounds heavier than my marathon race weight and I want to keep it that way.
I want the extra fat in my thighs…buoyancy!