Thursday, May 24, 2012

Easy... Maybe Not...


After finishing Kinetic I had a great outlook about Louisville. I kept thinking it was going to be easy. Ok well not easy, but that it wasn't going to be so bad. That it was doable. That the training was fun and I loved every minute of it.
 
Then my run took place yesterday morning. It wasn't overly hot, but it was humid out! I was suppose to do a mile warm up with a 4 mile tempo and then a mile cool down. Mile 1 went ok, then it was a struggle after that. I know not every run goes as planned, but I don't know. With every step I took doubt started to creep up in my head that the marathon is going to be complete and udder hell in the summer Kentucky heat. The thoughts of "oh 26.2 miles isn't going to be so bad after swimming and biking" were gone. If I didn't plan my run to finish at the front door of my office I would have let myself walk. I started off with 8 something on my watch and ended in the high 9s. Ugh. I hated every minute of my run yesterday and the worst part is now I am playing mind games with myself.
 
And to top yesterday off, I got a whopping 150 yards in at the pool. Yes, that's not a typo, I was only in the water long enough to get wet before the pool kicked us out for lighting. Now, I had just came from outside and it wasn't lighting or thundering. Whatever. I know they want to be safe, but so silly. I would have loved to go back later in the evening but didn't have the time to do so :( So, that leaves me with the whole half hour window tonight to swim. I'll take the mile I can get in over nothing I suppose.
 
Other than that, despite my confidence crushing run, I am trying to keep a positive attitude towards my training and a positive outlook on Ironman as a whole. Up to this point I have enjoyed training for the most part and look forward to specific IM training starting the week of June 7th. What does that mean? It just means lots of long rides and long runs will fill up my weekends. I just hope the summer heat doesn't continue to scare me...
 
Happy Thursday All :)

6 comments:

  1. You'll have three months to learn how to deal with the heat and humitidy AND build up the strength and endurance to get you through IMKY. You'll be great!

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  2. We all have one of those days! You are going to do great and you'll get used to the heat in the coming months.

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  3. The first runs at the beginning of summer are always awful and make me wonder how I survived the previous summer. I'm sure that by August you'll be well adjusted to heat and humidity and ready for that marathon at the end!

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  4. Look at it this way-- you are acclimating. Every miserable run in the heat brings you one step closer to being able to handle it on race day. And one run does not a training cycle make!

    The sports psych I am working with always says that performance is dynamic, so it's NORMAL for some runs to be bad and some to be good. Like the bell curve. Sometimes the runs fall at the slow end, but that's just to be expected. :-)

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  5. Keep your head up! Ironman and Ironman training are both long processes and there is plenty of room for ups and downs - this is totally normal. Keep in mind that the weather is not something you can control, but just do what you can to be prepared. One of the most important things you can do is nail down your nutrition plan for the heat - fluids and SALT, SALT, SALT.

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  6. I totally know what you are going through!!! I keep telling Mike that Ironman makes people bi-polar. Literally one minute I'll be thinking I LOVE IRONMAN - I'm going to CRUSH this race! Then the next I'll be thinking that i'll be lucky to finish. You are doing so well so far with your training and you are a really strong endurance athlete. You will be rested and tapered on race day and you will have adrenaline and excitement to get you to that finish line. Don't worry- you are going to do great!

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