Week 1
January 10, 2016
Day 1
Exercise: Run
Time: 1 hour
Distance: 5 miles
No lie, I thought about quitting today. I was 40 minutes in to what felt like the hardest run of my life, and I thought, "I should quite before I get too committed." I really don't want to write that down and be honest, but I figure there is no point to writing any of this down if I'm not going to be honest. So yeah, one day in and quitting has already crossed my mind.
I think the reason that I wanted to quit was because I started thinking about the big picture of finishing an Ironman. All the miles started to pile up in my mind, and it was insanely overwhelming. I know that I could run for an hour today. I know I could cover 5 miles. But I don't know that I can cover 26 miles on the day of the race. The thing is, that thought shouldn't even be on my plate right now. I should be focused on the day at hand and nothing else. I'm going to handle these workouts the same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time.
Day 2
Exercise: Swim
Time: 1 hour
Distance: 52 laps (idk how long the pool is)
There is a fine line between swimming and drowning. I stayed on the correct side of that line today, but I flirted with it no doubt. I had to share a lane with someone, which I thought would be a nuisance but it actually was something much worse: a competition. I spent my whole workout racing the guy in my lane, and I'm not sure if he was aware of the fact that we were racing, but I won. However, it turns out that if you expend a lot of energy trying to keep up with someone who is only swimming for 20 minutes, swimming an extra 40 is quite difficult. On top of wearing myself out, I was also keenly aware that the guy two lanes down from me was wearing a snorkel...I've never been more envious of a snorkel in my life.
Today, I learned that I should not allow the actions of others to influence my own actions as much as they do. Competing with the guy in my lane fueled me at first, but it only ended up making me more tired towards the end. Then, comparing myself to the guy with a snorkel is stupid because I don't need a snorkel to swim...Right? Well, that's yet to be decided.
Things I Googled today: surgery breathing underwater, snorkel Ironman rules
Day 3
Exercise: Bike
Time: 1 hour
Distance: Not a clue
In talking with a few friends about road bikes, I was told that it's almost a guarantee to fall at some point when you first start using clip-in bike shoes. Because your feet are attached to the pedals, it can be hard to get them unclipped quickly in case you were about to stop and fall over. Well, these stories were great and all, but surely that would NEVER happen to me. I was an athlete in high school and played tons of intramurals in college. I'm way too coordinated to fall on a bike.
10 seconds. That's how long it took me to fall. I got clipped in, felt really great about everything that was happening, then in an instant my chain came off and I was on the ground fully attached to my bike. I have a small cut on my arm from the accident but a deep wound on my pride. Needless to say, I'll be riding with tennis shoes for the foreseeable future.
Day 4
Exercise: Swim
Time: 1 hour (barely)
Distance: 50 laps?
Today, I was the only person in the pool, and it was awesome. Something about being in the water and not really being able to hear anything is incredibly peaceful. It can be kind of boring sure, but it's also a great way to slow down and get away from everything. Nothing can get to you when you're underwater, and that's comforting in a world that is always trying to get your attention.
Also, I cannot get out of the men's locker room fast enough after I swim. I may or may not have an irrational fear of naked old men. My innocence is just...gone. However, I really look forward to the day when I have old man in a public locker room level self-confidence.
Day 5
Exercise: Bike
Time: 1 hour
Distance: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I would seriously like to meet the person that designed road bike seats. I mean, what was that guy's deal. "Let's see, we need a new solution for road bike seats. I know! i'm going to make them as small, hard, and pointy as I possibly can. That way I can design these shorts with extra padding that people will have to buy once they buy my new seats. The shorts will only kind of help, but who cares."
I hate that guy. I shouldn't be sore in the places where I'm sore today.
Fun fact: I wrote this while standing up
Day 6/7
I took this weekend off. I was supposed to go on another run this weekend, but it was pouring rain and I couldn't drag myself to the gym. I'm not proud of it, but I took the extra day off. I realize that compromising on workouts isn't the best way to begin training for an Ironman, but the bright side is that my lack of discipline now means that there is a lot of room for improvement. And yes, I realize that "room for improvement" is not necessarily a bright side. Relax.
I learned this week that training for an Ironman is hard. Am I an idiot for only learning this now? Probably, but I'm not going to quit on it. Because it may be difficult, but it's not impossible. Too often I turn difficult things into impossible things in my mind, but I'm not doing that with the Ironman. Stay with me. There is a lot of "improvement" in store.