Week 32
August 15, 2016
Day 211
Exercise: Swim
Time: 1 hour
Distance: 2 miles
The pool was being cleaned last week, so I was eager to get back in the water today. Plus, I've been watching the olympics a lot recently, so I've been wanting to see how close I could get to some of the gold medal swimming times. Turns out, they are even faster than I thought they were...Fun fact: if the Olympic swimmers swam their distances twice, they would still be faster than me swimming the same distance once. That's right. They are all literally twice as fast as I am. Stay humble everyone.
Day 212
Exercise: Bike
Time: 2 hours
Distance: 30 miles
Today, was a good ride. Someone through an orange at me as they drove past and hit me on the back. At first, I was pretty mad, but then I realized they were probably just trying to be nice. I bet they could tell I was tired and thought I needed a vitamin C pick me up. I'm sure they were great people. While the orange was a nice thought, I wish they had thrown it a little softer and in a way where I could catch. Oh well, it was kind of them to try to help!
Day 213
Exercise: Swim
Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Distance: 2.4 miles
This was my longest swim so far, and it was also the distance I will be swimming in the race. I felt great afterwards (despite spending most of my time thinking about how much faster Michael Phelps would be in the lane next to me), but I wish I were as comfortable with the bike and run as I am with the swim. The open water is the most intimidating aspect of the race, but I feel the most at ease when I'm swimming. I need to increase my comfort levels on the other two aspects of the race to where I am with swimming, and I will be ready to go.
Day 214
OFF
Day 215
Exercise: Bike
Time: 4 hours
Distance: 60 miles
Today felt long and far from comfortable. I have a lot of improving to do on the bike.
Day 216
Exercise: Swim/Bike/Run
Time: 30 minutes/1 hour/1 hour 45 minutes
Distance: 1 mile/15 miles/10 miles
Today was my birthday. Go figure. I never thought I would be working out on my birthday, let alone doing three separate workouts. I guess this is what growing up is like?
Day 217
OFF
I should acknowledge that this second off day was not a part of the training schedule. I hope you don't read these posts and think that I'm perfectly disciplined because I'm not. It's not always easy to get in the pool, on the bike, or on the road. I have days where I don't push as hard as I can, days where I cut workouts shorts, and even some days like today where I simply don't show up. I'm not proud of these lapses in discipline, but I recognize that they are a part of the process. I'm growing into a better version of myself through this training, but nothing is happening overnight. I'm still learning.
I'm walking, jogging, running, stumbling, falling, picking myself back up, and going again. This training has taught me that it's important to have a healthy balance of love for the process and desire for the goal. When I become consumed with being an Ironman, I find my training to be deeply unsatisfying and frustrating, but when I focus on making daily goals, I enjoy the challenge of each workout. I think this truth is applicable to all areas of life. We can always get better at whatever it is we choose to do, but the process of improving should be equally as important as the end goal. When we remember that, the process become easier and the end goal becomes more attainable.