In case you wanted to know what training for an Ironman looks like

Put up some big #'s this past weekend making this the biggest weekend yet. Physically I got it all done, but I had many mental checkouts and almost-giveups along the way.

I have developed a mantra to keep me in the game.

"YOU ARE TRAINING FOR A FUCKING IRONMAN!!!!"

Round #1 was Friday at the pool. On tap was a 4K swim. 3K in have to use the bathroom. Got out of the pool and went, "Eh, you are 3K in, what's another 1K? I'll just stop now."

"SNAP OUT OF IT, JON! YOU ARE TRAINING FOR A FUCKING IRONMAN!"

Bathroom. Pool. 1K more yards. DONE.

Saturday was 5 hours on the bike followed by a 1 hour run. It was gonna be a loooooooong day. This is kinda funny. I drove 20 mins to my ride start, opened up the trunk and my bike wasn't there. DOH! 40 mins later I was back at the same spot, but WITH the bike in hand! Mad at myself for that one, but laughed it off.

I went with 2, 2.5 hour loops so that I could practice my special needs. I am a BIG fan of mimicking race conditions in training. Lake Placid is a 2 loop course, so why not practice it with a 2 loop training ride. This also helps with refueling. I can carry 2.5 hours of liquid and fuel on me without packing the weight of a house! LOL!

First loop I felt strong and prolly burned a match. Oops! I paid for it on the 2nd loop, as usual.

After loop #1, I practiced my special needs:
Refill liquids
Refill Gu and EFS
Down a generic brand chocolate Ensure.

Side note. Not sure if you have ever seen these in most grocery stores and convenience stores, but they all sell "Nutrional PLUS" drinks. They are generic brand Ensure drinks. I like them better than the actual Ensure brand because the chocolate flavor isn't as harsh, but it still packs a punch. 350 easy calories! I am for sure putting one in my special needs bag on the bike. It gets lots of calories into me quickly, tastes great, and makes me feel human again, especially since I will have another 3 hours of riding to do.

Off for loop #2.....

With 30-ish minutes left, I could NOT stay in the aero position any longer. My butt couldn't take it any more! I felt like utter poo getting off the bike and my inner quads were just spent. I said to myself, "I hate my life!" Gonna be an interesting run....

Wound up with 97.75 miles in 5 hours. 19.5 mph average. WILL TAKE THAT!!!

Sure enough I start running and I am flying! This was the most SOLID 1 hour run of my life. Trust me, I was hurting by the end, but I felt utterly CONSISTENT. There were no slow downs or speed ups, just constant. I felt like the Juggernaut ;) 1 hour later and 7.63 miles @ a 7:52 pace, I was spent but felt VERY confident in my current state.

Since I was only 2.25 miles away from riding 100 for the day, I hopped back onto the bike and slowly churning out the 2.25 miles. Mission accomplished! Couldn't let that slip by ;)

Sunday was a MUCH different story. I went from a fast Saturday to an uber UBER slow Sunday. Worked HARD for a 9:12 pace over a 60 min run, then I hopped back onto the bike for another 2.5 hours for an easy easy spin that just hurt hurt HURT! Had lots of "just quit now" moments. But I constantly reminded myself with:

"YOU ARE TRAINING FOR A FUCKING IRONMAN!!!!"

The good news is that my butt isn't chafed, its just sore from sitting on it for 7.5 hours over two days. I don't know HOW those pros do it!

The final round was this morning's 2.5 hour run. The big Q was I recovered from Saturday and Sunday's efforts? Turns out the easy but lots of volume on Sunday flushed the crap out of my legs, and then resting them on Monday got the legs to about 90% good to go.

Wound up with a new distance PR of 17.31 miles AND I negative split the run. 8:52 out (going net downhill) to 8:28 back (going net uphill) all while holding the same heart rate. BLAMMO!!!

Stay tuned for a BIG announcement in my next post. Some of you already know what it is, but its gonna be FUN!

Hint: "Parlez Vous Du Fromage?