Like lemonade, thanks for asking.

Today was my fourth and final attempt of the week to get up early and exercise before work. My workout was a swim, which is the discipline I take the least seriously, so I'm a bit less motivated to get up and get the whole thing done. Once again, I had a morning appointment scheduled, which meant this morning's timetable left little wiggle room.

I made two tactical errors last night that affected this morning's wake-up:

• I failed to build snooze-button time into my routine when I set my alarm last night. Why? I guess I was overly optimistic, but deep down, I know I didn't care too much if I slept in a few minutes and had to cut my swim short. Truth hurts, but it will set you free.
• I didn't go to bed early enough. Why? Because I was playing around with settings for metrics on Training Peaks. (Exciting news! I discovered that I can track the color of my urine. YES IT'S TRUE! Holla if you're as excited about this as I am!)




Training Peaks, you had me at "Urine Color."

 

Although I haven't conquered it yet, getting up early has gotten easier. I don't know if I'll ever be a morning person, but I'll take what I can get. Nevermind the fact that I accidentally put chocolate milk in my coffee, and for the first time this week, I am craving a nap. 8 points

Since I was slack and didn't get up right away, I only had time to complete 68% of my workout. So, both swims were too short this week. I see room for improvement. 68 points

I arrived at my appointment 10 minutes early. (Damn, I could've stayed in the pool 9 more minutes.) 10 points

Grade for today: B

Overall, this week went much, much better than I had anticipated. Having most of my evenings free to spend with JC and Beanhead has been wonderful. I even had dinner with my mom and attended my niece's dance recital last night - just like a normal person!

Now, off to check my urine color.



Attempt #3

Today was attempt #3 for getting up and working out early in the morning. (Yesterday was an evening long run, so I got to sleep in. And what a wonderful run it was! Six effortless, easy miles in the 50 degree darkness. Ahhhhh.....) I also had an appointment scheduled for 9am today, so I had to get up and start the trainer ride at a certain time if was to get the entire ride done; no dilly-dallying, lolligagging or otherwise screwing around.

I only hit the 5-minute snooze button one extra time. ("Extra" is defined as hitting it more times than I had planned; I build in a certain amount of time for snoozing when I'm calculating my wake-up time.) JC was a little surprised when I mumbled coherently to please turn on the lights - and I didn't use bad words. 10 points!

I completed 102% of my planned trainer ride. YES! I rode ONE EXTRA MINUTE! 102 points

I arrived to my appointment on time. (Used here, "on time" means within 7 minutes of the actual scheduled appointment time, and 10+ minutes before the other person arrived. Booyah!) 8 points

Today's grade: A-

I am quite pleased with today's performance. I have to admit, it was a little easier to get up today. I hope that's a sign of things to come. I'm a bit nervous, though, because starting next week, I will have to be at work much earlier than usual. I'm hiring a few people for a short-term project, and I'll have to be there early to train them. That means I'll have to get up SUPER early to get my workout done and get to work at an inhumane time. And I probably should not wear running shorts their first week, so I need to build in extra time to put on actual pants. And make-up. And hair product.

I can do this.

Attempt #2

Today was attempt #2 for getting up early and working out before work.

I got up "soon" after my alarm went off. (This is a relative term.) JC helped a lot - he talked to me, turned on the lights, and asked me if I want to be an Ironman. He is awesome. 9 points

I completed 100% of my run (it was only 2 miles; I'm being careful about adding an extra day of running to my week). I also completed 100% of my core workout (blech). 1,000,000 points

I arrived to work a few minutes later than usual, which is much later than I should arrive. -999,923 points

Things that helped:

• I got my clothes ready last night and laid them out.
• I went to bed early again.
• Beanhead slept in her bed all night for the second night in a row. (What a great kid - all we had to do was ask her, and she obliged.)

Grade for today: B.

Attempt #1

Attempt #1 to get up early and exercise before work: I give myself a C.

I did not get up as early as I had intended, but it was at least an hour earlier than normal. 10 points

I only completed 59% of my planned swim. However, had I left it until later in the day, 0% would have been completed today. 59 points

I arrived to work a few minutes before my usual time (still later than I should). 7 points

As JC (my dear hubby) said this morning, it would suck to have to say, "I would've done an Ironman, but the only thing holding me back was an inability to get out of bed."

Tomorrow is another day. I can do this.

This Week's Challenge

It was a pretty good week of pre-training (training to get ready for the real training to begin). I ran four times, including a long run which I was able to keep properly slow. I had two good trainer rides and am starting to feel comfortable on the bike again. I hit my goal for total hours of exercise. The best part is that almost all of the week was pain-free.

The bad news is, I neither swam nor did any strength workouts. It's easy to blame the weird holiday schedule and a short business trip, but I know if I had managed my time better, I could've gotten it all in. It's not detrimental to let some workouts slide while I'm not truly in training, but I still feel guilty.

My fear is that I will continue to be lax when the real training starts. I don't really think that'll happen, though. I plan to get as many workouts done before work as possible. This is THE HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD for me. But... If I want to be an Ironman, I have to get these things done, and to get them done, I have to fit them in around the rest of life: family, work, and music. I will find a way.

I plan to exercise before work 4 out of 5 days this week: two swims, one run and a trainer ride. It's going to be tough, but I have a plan: I'm going to go to bed earlier every night, and I asked my kid to please stay in her own bed all night so Mom and Dad can get good, quality sleep. I also told her of my plan to get up early. My hope is that the added pressure of setting an example for her will be enough to get my ass up.

The Bright Side

I went for a beautiful bike ride today with five guys (mmmm..... suddenly I could go for a cheeseburger), most of whom I've never ridden with before. It was 50 degrees when we started, and windy - gusts over 19mph. The leaves peaked this week, and the route was through gently rolling farmland.

This was my first outdoor ride in a month, and my longest ride in almost 2 months. I've been riding 30 t0 45 minutes at a time on the trainer, so I knew I would feel a little rusty today. Well, "a little rusty" doesn't begin to cover it. Not only were my legs weak and heavy, but my brain has apparently atrophied.

First of all, I left my aero bottle on the counter. A planned two-hour ride requires two water bottles. My bike only has one bottle cage on the frame, so my second bottle would be between my aero bars. You need a special aero-shaped bottle for this, so I couldn't just use a regular bottle instead. The solution would normally be to stick a regular bottle in my bike shirt pocket. However, this idiot didn't wear a cycling jersey today; she wore two running shirts and a running jacket. No pocket for a bottle.

Sigh.

Moving on.... I only knew of one other person I was meeting to ride with (Todd), and I've only met him once. At the time, he was sitting and wearing regular clothes. Stand him up, put some cycling garb and sunglasses on him, and he looks completely different. So, I go say hi to a small group of guys who are getting ready to ride, and don't recognize him. I keep looking around to see if Todd has shown up yet, and decide that if he doesn't show, I'll just join this other group (one of whom I knew). What a nice, embarassing moment it was when I finally asked, "Is one of you Todd?" - and one of them was.

Double sigh.

The ride itself was fun and invigorating. It was also maddening. I can't believe that less than two months ago, I could ride 56 miles averaging 19mph and run a 1:57 half afterward. Today, I struggled to average 16mph for a 30 mile ride. It really, really sucks to have lost so much fitness and endurance.

BUT:
(You know, I always have to find a bright side.)

Why did I lose so much fitness? Because I took time off. I rested. I let my brain and my body relax and heal. I refilled the well that had been emptied after 11 months of constant training and racing. As depressing as it is to have to start over, I know that it was the right thing to do. Ultimately, the break I took will pay dividends during IMTX training. And if it doesn't, well, May 18th is going to be a very long day.

Oh, and for those keeping track at home: 2 hours of riding with the first 90 minutes knee-pain free. T run of 1.25 miles with no knee pain at all. I am rejoicing.

Knock, knock.

A handful of exciting sports-related opportunities have presented themselves to me in the past couple of months. I can’t mention them outright at this point, because they’re not official “done deals” yet, but I’m pretty stoked to have these things on the horizon.

More to come!

Dr Awesome

I had an appointment with Dr Awesome this week (not his real name) to begin working on my knees. (To review, the right one never quite recovered from a fall I took while running in Augusta last August, and the left one has been a pissy little bitch off and on since the Augusta Half Ironman.) Dr Awesome does great A.R.T.

Dr Awesome watched me run so he could check my gait and immediately saw that my left knee was being pulled inward. This would account for the pain on the outside of my knee. (In retrospect, it makes perfect sense - I now remember my knees rubbing together when I ran last week.) He worked on that leg, un-gummed the right knee, and gave me a refresher on the stretches I need to do daily and during my runs. I left his office feeling very optimistic.

So optimistic, in fact, that I plunked down $200 for the 24-week David Glover training plan. The deed is done: I will officially begin training for Ironman Texas on December 2nd.

Let us pause to rejoice that The Plan Decision has been made.

Fast forward to that evening, when I hopped on the trainer for an easy 30 minute spin. I had more pain in my left knee than I've ever had during a ride. I was scared. Did I just waste my money on a training plan that I won't be able to do because my knee is screwed up for life?

Luckily, I have a level-headed husband and good friends who have experience with injury and recovery. They talked me down. They reminded me that my over-use injury didn't occur in one day, and it wouldn't be fixed in one day. That's why we go for a series of treatments, not just one-and-done.

The next day, I noticed a very strange feeling in my knees: upon rising from or sitting down in a chair, my knees didn't hurt. I hadn't even realized they were hurting so much until they weren't hurting any more. It's funny the things you get used to and accept as normal.

Today I ran about four and half miles and had no knee pain at all. My legs felt nice and loose. I stopped every 10 minutes during my run to stretch, as prescribed by Dr Awesome. Tomorrow I'll hop on the bike and see what happens.

And no matter what, I won't freak out.*

*I reserve the right to freak out.

Hey Lois: I did it.

I did it. I survived my annual two-week break. And I didn't slap anybody, have a nervous breakdown, or complain about it (much).

Every November, I take 10 to 14 days off from training. No running at all. This time, no biking either. I do it to let my body and mind rest and recover from the previous 11 months of training, and to prepare for the next training session.

After the Augusta Half Ironman, I had planned to take it easy for 10 days (done), kill it at the Ray Tanner Home Run 12k (done), then do a couple of long runs in preparation for the Governor's Cup Half Marathon on November 3rd. But after an 11 mile progression run, my knees, which had been talking to me for a month or two, started talking loudly and more often. I made the difficult decision to skip the half marathon and begin my November break early.

So, today was my first day back. I rode the trainer before work for 30 easy minutes. I knew my body would feel a bit rusty, but I wasn't expecting the left knee pain to come back so quickly and decisively. I am glad that I had already made an appointment with the best ART practitioner in the world for later this week. I plan to knock this crap out. I will also get re-fit on my bike to make sure my position isn't causing stress to the knee.

I've planned a very light week of easy workouts  - short run here, easy spin there - to start getting my body back into a routine and used to sweating again.

For those of you following along at home, NO I have NOT yet selected my training plan for Ironman Texas. I have, however, narrowed it down from 2 plans to 6 plans.

Yup.