speed matters.

Deb and I have been talking about the dream of ironman since as long as I can remember.  Deb has achieved this goal already, and I am hoping 2015 will be my year.  I know that it will take a lot of hard work and dedication to make this happen... starting with nutrition and rounding out with a really good bike base. 

As someone who is always flirting with cutoff times in just about every race I do, it's only natural to be concerned about it now.  To modify a quote from Legally Blonde, "The rules of hair care [Ironman] are simple and finite"...

My best marathon time is 7 hours and 12 minutes.  Seriously.  [In my defense, I ended up with a stress fracture in my knee during that race]  Do I think I can go faster than that?  Sure.. but realistically, I need to allow for a 7 hour marathon during ironman, even with the best of run training.  And everyone knows you plan for the weakest link.  So, I made a chart.. what swim and bike pace combinations need to happen to allow for a 7 hour marathon time?

So there you have it.. 14.8 miles per hour pretty much covers me.
[includes 15 min for each transition].

Then.. on Saturday, I met a new friend, Andrea, for a 40 mile bike ride which ended up being really disheartening for me.  So many hills, breathing issues [asthma?  or is it anxiety from the hills?  It only happens on hills..]. 12 miles per hour.  You may notice that 12 miles per hour didn't even make the chart!

seriously, look at those hills!!  And I thought the Rock Hall course was hard...

Uh oh.

It's really irrelevant to try to compare a race that happened SIX years and 20 pounds ago [seriously.. six years ago?  how'd that happen?], but just for shits and giggles, here are my times from Redman 70.3.

• Swim | 0:51:21 | 2:40/100m
• Bike | 3:47:21 | 14.8mph
• Run | 3:33:19 | 16:17/mi

Do you see that?  I hit my swim and bike numbers.. granted, half the distance, but you see where I'm going with this.  I do have it in me.  Right now I'm looking at Ironman Maryland [the selected team race] for 2015 and that course is flat [hills are my kryptonite!] which makes it more doable.

No, seriously, how has it been 6 years since this race???

The point of the comparison though is that it is possible.  It will take some work.  Scratch that, it will take a lot of work.  But I have well over a year...

re-re-re-re-starting

Every few months I find myself saying "this it is, I'm going to buckle down and become ____" ---  fill in the blank with just about anything you can think of... faster, thinner, healthier, a runner, a cyclist.... 

Let's talk about what happened yesterday...

• bacon, egg & cheese croissant sandwich.... as if I didn't know I was going out for a big lunch.
  
• Sakura Japanese Steak House for my farewell luncheon.  My choice of location.  Yes please, I'll have the fried rice... and a sushi roll... maybe some steak... ooh, look at all that butter and oil you are using, I should eat every. last. bite.  (and I did)
  
• I come home from work feeling guilty about lunch and put on my running clothes to go out for a walk but quickly change my mind and change into my pajamas... and proceeded to eat the 3 slices of left over pizza from the night before as an afternoon SNACK!!  I mean, it's thin crust, so it can't be that bad, right?!!  Wrong.
  
• Meatball Parmigiana sandwich from Paisanos for dinner.  With fries.  Jon suggested ordering in dinner, and who am I to argue?!  At this point, the day was a wash, so why not just pile it on.... [I think Jon suggested this.. my next-day memory says that Jon suggested this, but quite frankly, it could've been me?]
  
• Feeling gross, I go upstairs to prepare my swim stuff and get into bed... until Jon comes and suggests that we go out to Sweet Frog.  Need I say more????  [again, full disclosure: I originally suggested Sweet Frog to Jon, but my idea included WALKING there and back... Jon vetoed that quickly, and I was ready to give up on the treat until he brought it up again later]
• My alarm goes off at 4:30 this morning and needless to say I am not feeling well.... skipping swimming.
  

I'm calling yesterday rock bottom.

So here I am again at the oh-so-familiar starting block.

Once again, I am here, vowing to myself never again.   Realistically, I know there will be bad days, maybe even days as bad as yesterday (though I hope not!).  I also know that if I ever want to become an ironman, I need to get this under control... more good days than bad days.  It might be time that I enlist the help of a nutritionist?

But wait.. let's not get too negative too quickly.  Yes, nutrition is a big fat fail, and I need to work on that, but since joining Team Z in March, look at my workout volume:

The sports minutes is anything from hiking or walking to yoga and physical therapy

Then compare that to my all-of-2013 numbers (tri-sports only):

In only 4 months, I'm already over half, and way more balanced!

I am heading in the right direction, no doubt.  I have been getting my butt up at 4:30 pretty consistently to make it to swim workouts (except for this morning of course)... I even got new fins for those dreaded kick sets:

 

So, the conclusion here:  yesterday was a nutrition disaster.  It's documented.  Today is a new day.  Onwards and upwards!!