Well, it’s been 2 months since I last wrote. Part of this is because I was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. Another part of it was, with my new position as an assistant professor in nursing at a local community college, what would I actually have TIME to do. The mission is still the same here. Try to do this with as little money as possible but something I had failed to write in to my low cost plan what the amount of time that creating my own training plan may consume, especially when I wanted to translate the training from a printed book to Training Peaks.
Well, after struggling for weeks to even find the time to write down the training blocks of what had to be done when, I threw up my hands and gave up. More precisely, I logged on to my old Training Peaks account and stumbled upon pre-built plans that met my criteria. As I have stated before, the factor of some plans running your ass in to the ground is always a significant concern. I have psoriatic arthritis and I battle with constant fatigue. It’s not a fun day at the picnic when your body makes you feel like two giant bags of sand are just sitting on your legs all day while your feet are aching and on fire from the inside out. To be honest, I really try to not complain about my pain as much but my students, often ask me why I am limping at times. I just smile and say it’s a bad arithritis day. Anyway, back to the pre-built plans. I found the 80/20 endurance plan on Training Peaks and as I read, it was meeting my criteria. The philosophy of the 80/20 plan is to execute good, quality training at a low to moderate intensity 80% of the time and high intensity training 20% of the time. My past experience has taught me that this could work out in my favor. Add in the fact that the plan is $29.95/month including a premium subscription to Training Peaks (TP) (which can cost $19.95/month by itself), and you have a bargain. Also, to consider, the fact that a coach can cost between $175 and $250/month, $30 seems like no big deal in comparison to that. Sure you do not have 100% access to your coach, but to be honest, it sounds more glamorous than it is. I honestly had no issues with my last coach. She was great! But by the time I was done with my tri training with her, I felt that I could do almost the same for less money.
So with that decision made, Dave Warden and Matt Fitzgerald (not to be confused with Matt Dixon from “Fast track Triathlete”, are now my indirect guides on this Ironman journey. And so far, what they are asking, does not seem unreasonable. One thing experience has taught me is that I have to keep myself calm when I see all of the base training written in to my schedule now. My immediate thought is “how the hell am I going to get this done?!” But then I breathe and remember that I can do this, just one thing at a time. Keep moving forward.
Mind over matter
The mantra of “keep moving forward”, is one that I have chanted to myself over the last year, and tonight was no different. So after a long day at work, I came home knowing I had to run for 30 minutes. Since I had been gone all day, running outside was not an option. I have a husband of 14 years and our 10 year old son, would not be very amused if I got home and immediately left again. Luckily, I have a treadmill in the basement along with a Wahoo Kicker, so I was able to get myself in to gear. I bought both earlier this year used because I missed having a treadmill. The kicker was bought because I have been uneasy on the roads where I live and it is getting more dangerous than ever to take my bike outside. People are crazy and I was not tempting fate if I did not have to. The Kicker is a smart bike trainer which is integrated in to software programs which simulate real world cylcing such as Zwift. Should I have included these expenses in to my Ironman budget? Maybe, but I really do not think so because I bought them knowing I would use them regardless if I am doing an Ironman or not.
So, my training is based upon heart rate. No big deal, I have a HR monitor that connects to my watch. 5 minutes in Z1, 20 minutes in Z2, and 5 minutes in Z1. This is where mind over matter comes in because I have lost quite a bit of fitness over the last year. More than I’d like to have lost. It’s my fault for slacking. I chose to go after getting a PhD and my training suffered for it. Hell, everything suffers when you are in the pursuit of a PhD! As I am running on the treadmill, watching an old episode of “Arrow”, I start to get hot and bothered, my legs start to ache and I have no music in my ears to distract me. The episode of “Arrow” was terrible but I think this is a good first step to training with no music. I wanted to stop but I kept thinking that I had only 30 minutes to run and I could get through that. I accidentally did the 10 minutes of Z1 at the beginning but considering I had not run at a consistent rate, it was probably for the best I did it that way. While I was running, my husband came to see me and to check on our son, Alex. He talked to me for an minute, then to Alex, (who was watching TV in our finished basement where my treadmill is located), and it became clear to me that this training might work. My relationships with my family suffered during my last serious training, this time, I am determined to not let that happen again. As a PhD candidate, being skeptical is part of our baseline. We are taught to question everything! And we do…all…the…damn…time.
I kept an eye on my HR for the duration of the run. I wanted to quit and walk soooo many times but I kept looking at the clock on the treadmill and reminding myself that I could do this. And I did. 🙂 I got off the treadmill with a shit-eating grin on my fact that I could not wipe off. It had been a long time since I had a smile like that after a run. It was hot, it was hard, it was REALLY slow pace. But what my life has taught me over the last several years is to have so much patience. Because, I do not know of many people who feel amazing while running. Rule of thumb is that you often feel like shit during the run and like a million dollars after the run.
So the financial breakdown so far….
Ironman Mont Tremblant Fee $800
80/20 Endurance Plan $29.95/month
Zwift $14.95/month
And so the Ironman training Saga begins……
Ironman for the PhD (Poor, hungry, Desperate) 