Ironman Kentucky Training- Month 5 of 8

[KSH]

Ironman Kentucky Training Month 5 of 8!

WOW! I only have 3 months left. One of those months is going to be tapering down… so only 2 MONTHS of solid training left.

May was a rocking month for me! I had some really nice training accomplishments.

Here are some numbers for you… I did much better this month, even with an injury (that I still have).

Rest days:
May- 4 days off out of 31.
April- 8 days off out of 30.

Cycling:
May – 540 miles. 156 miles more than April!
April- 384 miles.

Swimming:
May – 31,000 yards. 21,000 yards more than April.
April- 10,000 yards.

Running:
May- 75 miles. Not stellar, but I did get injured.
April- 67 miles.


For the month of May I really dialed in my nutrition on the bike. I figured out the key to using the Infinit (it’s a nutrition drink that you custom mix and order online).

I make a concentrated water bottle that holds 3 hours of servings. I mix orange Gatorade in with it to give it flavor. I take 3 swigs of it every 15 minutes. I only do 1 hour of Infinit, then I do 1 hour of solids. Again, everything I consume must be done in 15 minute increments. It’s so weird eating on a schedule on the bike. My alarm goes off, and I eat. No matter what. It works though, and I need to do it to ensure that I can run a marathon after 112 miles on the bike.

Overall I really did a great job in May. I was shocked at how good I was at getting up at 5:30 AM…going to train… going to work… leaving work to train some more. That is pretty how each day goes. Then I rush home to unpack, repack, to do it all again. It’s completely out of comfort zone (aka: I like to sleep in!), but I did it!


Swimming Highlights:
Eh, not much to say here.. other than I actually swam! HA! As you can see from the numbers, I tripled my time in the pool.


Cycling Highlights:
Well, I got OFF the bike trainer this month. I only logged 9 hours on it for May!

I did log a lot of miles on the road though!

5-10-08: Did an 85 mile ride.

5-17-08: Did a 100 miles ride! My second century ever! It started at the Texas Motor Speedway. Took me 6 hours, but I did it. Thanks to my friend Chris that I know from my triathlete message board, I had a buddy with me the whole way. It was nice to have company, because the last 15 miles were torture. I even walk/ran 1.75 miles afterwards. My longest brick to date!

5-24-08: Should have done around 75-85 miles or 5.5 hours on the bike. Did not happen. Only made 65 miles and I about near died from that. It was a horrible, miserable day for me. Second worst day of 2008 on the bike. It was just so hot, humid and windy. Oh so windy. I licked my wounds and limped back home (so to speak), after 4.5 hours on the bike.

5-28-08: Hit an all time record high average on the bike! Rode 28 miles at a 18.5 mph average! OH YEA! That’s speed baby. For comparison, I usually ride my 60-100 mile rides at a 16 mph average. Each time I have some speed on the bike, I feel really great afterwards.

5-31-08: Ended the month with a 85 mile ride. Slow and easy was my motto. Took me 6 hours. But I wasn’t going to have a repeat of the previous weekend long ride. I just wanted to finish all my time. Obviously, it was slow… with a 14.5 mph average. This did show me that I need to keep at least a 16 mph average on the bike if I don’t want to ride for 8 hours in Kentucky! Once I was done with that, I ran 2.50 miles! Another record for me… longest brick (brick- you ride and then run back to back) of my life!


Running Highlights:
5-3-08 and 5-4-08: Jonny (the Ironsherpa) and I traveled to Austin to stay with the Ironsherpa’s Mom and Dad. I finally got to go to my racewalking clinic!

Honorable Mention: The Ironsherpa’s Mom was so kind and generous… making sure I was well fed for my training weekend. She even sent me home with some very yummy fresh ground peanut butter that I told her I love! How sweet is that? Not to mention how sweet they are to let me stay there. Staying with them is way nicer than a hotel would be!

The racewalking clinic was great. I learned a lot. I also learned that there is no way I can do that form for 26.2 miles in August. Which is fine. My run is pretty much where it’s going to be. I think at the Ironman I’ll be lucky to pull off a 13-14 minute mile waking/running.

I also took along Flat Kate with me to the racewalking clinic. Jonny’s niece had sent the Ironsherpa’s Mom a Flat Kate- a cute little cut out of herself. The task was for Flat Kate to go places, and have her picture taken with a story to accompany it. I made sure to take her to my clinic and for her to get pictures walking with me! That was fun to do!

Not so much a highlight, but I did get injured this past month. I did my 100 mile ride and run on 5-17-08… then on 5-18-08 I headed out to do a 14 mile walk/run. By the end of it my left knee was feeling it. That night my knee swelled up and by Monday morning I couldn’t bend it. In true Ironman form, I got up, and went to swim for 3,3000 yards. I couldn’t really kick or bend that leg… so I put a pull buoy between my legs and only pushed off the wall with one leg.

By Monday night (5-18-08) I figured out that cycling that night was probably a really bad idea. So for the next week I took it easy and cut out a couple of training sessions.

So, my knee is better but not 100%. I’m still babying it when I run… although I think my walking form is what did it in. So on my shorter sessions (anything up to 1-hour), I’m running and not walking.

Not sure if it will fix itself or what. Guess I’ll wait and see. Yes, I should go to the Dr. All the Dr. ever does though is x-ray it, say nothing is wrong… and gives me some pills. Since it’s so far from my office, I haven’t made an appointment yet.


As for the Ironsherpa, he is holding strong. Hasn’t collapsed under the annoyance of me always having to go to bed early to train the next day. Our weekends are pretty dang dull! We are lucky if we get to go out and do anything.

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Finally, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

1) My apartment has been messy at times due to all the training I’ve been doing. I might add that this was taken after I had cleaned out a training bag from that day and strewn the stuff all about.
2) Here is a picture of my apartment clean. Just so you know I’m not a complete slob. I really do like a clean place.
3) An Ironman always has a full fridge!
4) Chris and I after the 100 mile ride! Notice I’m holding up a 1, he the two zeros.
5) Me at the racewalking clinic taking a picture with the coach! Currently he’s in Russia helping to train the American Olympic team.

[Wahine]

wow KSH!! Great report. All is going well. I can't wait to see how you do.

I totally understand about the messy home, crazy schedule.... it ain't easy but you're doing it.

Keep it coming!!

[Tri Girl]

Wow- May was a great month! June and July will be even better! Thanks for the update. I'm just beginning my IM training (I'm 25 weeks out), and you always get me pumped!
Congrats on your smokin' century. 6 hours is a fabulous time- your IM time won't be too far off.
My dining room table looks just like the first picture (as does the trunk of my car). Oh well- some things can wait while IM training.
Keep it coming, girl. We're cheering you on all the way!

[KSH]

Hee-hee... I KNOW you two ladies can understand! Being Ironmen and all.

Glad to get you pumped Tri Girl. I hope your training goes OK with your injury. Please keep us updated.

I know that people think that because we do all this training, we must be in perfect physical shape. A lot of people don't realize that we train through injuries and pain at times.

Yea, I hope to finish my bike in 7 hours in Kentucky. I think I can do it. I hope I can do it. 6 hours is hard! Adding another hour on race day will be tough.

[colby]

Reading your training logs is great - you've still got a lot of improvement ahead, so you'll be in a great position come your day. Getting past those nasty days is such an accomplishment - even if I have had to call it a day and give up, I feel stronger for facing it in the first place. We had a couple of unseasonably warm 80+ degree days in the wake of 50 degree days and it was absolutely brutal... walking on my long run, crawling that last 15 miles on the bike. It was so frustrating, but I got up the next day anyway.

I have a rack in my bathroom with all of my training clothes on it... I gave up going to the closet. My refrigerator has random bottles of water and orange stuff in it, along with "quick protein" "oh my god I must eat" and "mmm, snacks". My husband's dishes duty on Mondays is always full of water bottles used to mix, water bottles used to carry, and water bottles used during the middle of the week. I SWEAR I do laundry, but our hampers are full - training clothes are clean.

Cheers to Iron Families and Iron Friends!

Keep up the good work, KSH. You'll be in great shape.

[HillSlugger]

Great report!

Can we see the picture of you with Flat Kate? Pleeese!

[KSH]

Colby... I'll write more later in your thread about IM training!

Here is a picture of Flat Kate and I... as requested...

[HillSlugger]

That's really cute. How many places has Flat Kate been?

[Veronica]

You have great legs.

V.

[Tri Girl]

Great legs, yes. I was looking at her flat (non-existent) stomach.

Not that we're checking you out or anything, KSH. You just look like an Ironwoman, that's all.

[Veronica]

I think I lose my stomach when I put the wetsuit on... maybe. Or I'm just better about sucking it in.

V.

[KSH]

Awe thanks for the compliments ladies. Oddly, I have always hated my legs.

But when I looked at the flim of us racewalking, I noticed that my legs were solid without any fat giggling on them. I thought, "WOW! I got some nice legs there."

I'm not trying to sound concieted... because trust me... I have HATED MY LEGS since I was like 12 years old. The fact that I can even say I have some nice looking legs is me coming a long way with my body image.

Hey... check me out... shoot... at 35 years old... it's few and far between that I get anyone checking me out! HA!


Flat Kate... where did she go? Not really sure. Her Grandmother (the Ironsherpa's Mom) was the one taking her places. She was in Texas with the Grandmother and was sent back to New York at the end of May.

I thought it was a really awesome assignment for a kid. Although, whomever was given the "flat version" did all the work.

[btchance]

Awesome training month. You'll be ready for IMKY in no time. Just take care of your knee.

Oh, and I agree with the others - you are looking like an Ironman! And as a side note, your place doesn't look that bad in comparision to mine. Right now I have the excuse of moving, but I usually don't.

[spindizzy]

I am in total awe. those are some amazing numbers and accomplishments.

[Skeezix]

Wow, I'm completely exhausted just reading all of your training. You seriously rock though, and I'm so impressed.

This might be a random question but what time are you going to bed each night if you are getting up each morning at 5:30? I can only imagine that all that training is especially tiring plus the early morning rise time.