My Iron(wo)man Progress

      While I have been training and racing my heart out, I realized today that it seemed to have been a while since I blogged, and wow, it's been since the beginning of my journey to IMTX! That just goes to show you how time-consuming training for a 140.6 mile race can be. (Or really, just shows you that I'm lazy, but we'll go with the first option!)

       I am 14 weeks in to my training plan, meaning there are a mere 6 weeks until race day. Everyone I meet these days asks, "so how's it going, how do you feel?" How's it going? Pretty good- I am on pace for my goal of under 14 hours, comfortably I think. My swim is confident, my bike is strong and getting stronger, and my run is...well, I probably won't die, at least. How do I feel? Tired. And so, so hungry. So hungry all the time!
    

For real tho, this is my life right now.

         Along the training road, I've found a couple of great new things. First, I dumped my Brooks PureFlows. They felt like they were comfortable, but after running the BCS marathon in them, I thought my feet were broken. I had also been experiencing hamstring pain. It correlated with when I bought the shoes, but I blamed it on just not being diligent about stretching.
        However, I switched to Zoot's Ultra TT 7.0s and almost immediately noticed a huge difference. They're cool because they're triathlon-specific: drain holes on the bottoms, default elastic laces, big finger holes for slipping on quickly, and best of all, a sock-like liner for running barefoot. They're also cool because the pain and tightness in my hamstrings went away within a week of using them! Downside? Ugly. So Ugly. And the 2015 model that I just got is even worse. But they're still worth it!

2014 version, wouldn't have been so bad without the black!

2015 version- PURPLE. LIME GREEN. UGH!

        Speaking of new shoes, I got a ballin' tax return this year, so I also got new cycling shoes. I'm doing 6 additional races this season on top of IMTX, several of them are sprints. They are local, and looking at last year's results shows I have a pretty good shot at the podium if I don't dilly-dally in transition. That means flying mounts and dismounts, which I have discovered I'm actually pretty good at! In order to do those, I needed to ditch my hot, three-buckle Shimanos and nabbed some LG  Tri X-Speed shoes on clearance at teamestrogen.com. They're breezy, light, and comfortable!
     

        I also got my first fully matching, actual tri kit! The kit is by SOAS, and for real it's probably good that they're so expensive or I'd have the whole collection by now. I got the Barcelona Nights kit and am in love with it- I want to wear it for every training session! It is so comfortable. The shorts are just short enough, with an awesomely soft chamois, and top is just long enough with a comfortable racer back cut that doesn't ride up when you run. There are five pockets. Five! That holds so much nutrition, including my  Hammer Endurolytes (I'll be writing out my nutrition plan in a later post!) in a tic-tac box. I will say that SOAS's size chart is spot on- so if you order, don't second-guess! I should have gotten a small for both the shorts and the top, but I got a medium in the top. It's great for swim and bike, but gets loose on the swim, an issue I don't think would happen if I went down a size. Just means I need another kit! Probably Coral Lummi....no, Team kit...no, Sunset Cliffs....ah, it's all so cute!
nutrition! Excuse the awkward selfie, I was too impatient to wait for Bryce to get home before taking a picture.


    

          Hmm, what else is Ironman training like? Well, on swim mornings, I have to pack three bags. Swim bag with wetsuit, bag of work clothes to change in to after showering at work, and then a run bag for running after work. That is a lot of laundry, y'all. I also go to bed at like, 9pm most nights, because I am an old person and like my sleep.

Sing it Garth, because "Much too young to feel this damn old," is exactly how I feel when my alarm goes off at 5:30am 4 times a week! I am so glad that the spring weather and time change are here, because although it's been interesting watching the first four seasons of Walking Dead, doing it from the bike trainer wasn't that fun. At least I was never stuck on a treadmill (Satan's sidewalk, as our friends training up North call it)!

My thoughts on my bike trainer, exactly, Walker.

    I am also growing impatient. I'm just ready for it to be here already! First, because it'll be my birthday, and second, because as each day goes by, it's getting harder to focus on other parts of my life- important things, like TV shows, or, you know, work. (Pshhhh. ;) )
        However, Ironman training has also been really awesome for making friends and pushing boundaries. Sure, I'm exhausted and starving a lot, but I've met a ton of great people, both online through IMTX groups and in person here around Austin! Ever since I started this sport, I've been looking for women to bike with, and finally have found both one here to ride with, as well as women who've got me covered when I visit Ft. Worth for the Texas Motor Speedway Spring race in a couple of weeks. (Training never stops. I'm going to a NASCAR race and bringing my bike and running gear!)

       I've got so much to talk about, now that I've started talking! In the coming weeks, I'll cover my nutrition plan, my ideal pace and time goals, the two events I have before race day (Shiner GASP and The Rookie Tri), and perhaps most importantly, the current developments in the triathlon world surrounding #50womentokona, TriEqual, and why IMTX will be my last WTC event until they get their business together. (That'll be a long one, stay tuned! I'm going to try to get back to my once-a-week pattern of posting. So, until then, please excuse me while I go eat my second breakfast.