ironcheryl2018

Can’t believe it’s been 99 days since I stepped across the finish line at IRONMAN Florida 2020. I really haven’t been thinking or focusing on racing during this period – just working on improving and getting stronger.

Coach had me research all of the 2019 KONA qualifying times for 60-64 W and I took the average and created this for my office:

Every time I look at it, I believe more and more I can get there. On days when I don’t want to do something, I look at it and make myself do it. Wishing won’t get me there; lots of work will.

Swimming has been going great. A new correction by Tim this week has made an improvement in my catch. Times keep dropping and even though lots of improvement to go, I’m feeling so much stronger and smoother in the water. I think the 4th day per week has also made a huge difference.

Back on the track the last couple of weeks and finding some speed there as well. Struggling to hold sub 9 or 10 min/mile pace on longer runs, so need to keep working there. But at least these track workouts are going well, so I know I can run fast, just need to translate it to the longer intervals.

Riding is going well. Last weekend, I had a great ride, with all-time power medals for 20, 60 and 90 min power. Keeping my cadence at 85 was the ticket. Still struggling to get there on my trainer – with a completely different set up and longer cranks, I have trouble getting above 75 cadence. Need to go see Shama and try to replicate my inside and outside bike setups!!!! Freezing cold here today so 2.5 hours on the trainer. Mental struggle like crazy, but got it done and actually had a 10th place 90 min all-time power high, that’s the highest 90 power ride inside ever. But didn’t hit the targets coach wanted, so still lots of work to do.

Lots going on with work and finishing up the new house and getting ready to move Mom & Dad and us too. But all the working out is a great distraction from the stress and worry of anything else and I love having triathlon goals and challenges. Trying to work on just focusing on the workout at hand and doing the best I can with each one.

So now it’s 55 days to TX 70.3 and 110 days to Hawaii 70.3. Yes counting the days but working hard to make sure the days count.

January is over today. Feeling GREAT about my training. Swimming 4 days a week with Magnolia Masters has made a huge difference in my swimming. Tim is an amazing swim coach and he is helping me work through so many issues with my swim stroke and I am getting faster and stronger each week.

Have been dealing with a bit of a hip issue the past month, but Clayton Hall was able to help me needle it and I seem to have gotten in front of that. Back on the track this week and really feeling like I am getting my run back. Coach is really helping me set very specific goals for every run and it’s been super challenging to reach them but usually hitting the targets and loving the challenge.

It’s been sort of cold and rainy but yesterday had an amazing bike where I hit a 90 minute power 2nd place high. Feeling strong and working on getting my cadence to 85 and doing some things I haven’t done before, one-leg drills and cadence drills.

Continuing strength training with Alyson and seeing some cuts in my stomach – that is super new for me. But really feeling the strength I’m developing in my core in my swim, bike and run!!!

COVID still an issue and not sure when next race will be, but focusing on getting stronger and faster for now when racing is back in full swing.

Nothing changes if nothing changes. I made some really hard changes over the past couple of months. And now I’m starting to see the wisdom in making those changes.

My new Tri Coach Dave Deschenes is amazing. Not just good, amazing. I’m getting so much great feedback and he tailors every single workout to my paces. Because of his commitment, it really makes me want to do every workout with focus and as best that I can to show the same level of commitment. And it’s challenging and that’s fun – to have a challenging run and crushing it!!!!! Friday we did an hour zoom call to discuss run form. We didn’t even get to evaluating the videos of my run form in that hour, but just listening to him talk and show me illustrations about good run form made me realize some of things I am not doing right. So this morning, I made a correction to my arm swing (I had been crossing over, which pulls my hip over) and I really felt the difference in my core and my quads engaging more. I also worked on increasing my cadence.

Changing swim squads recently was super hard for me. I had made so many friends over the past 3 years at my old squad and I miss seeing them every week. But Tim with Magnolia Masters is so, so good. I’ve made several key corrections with him in just the first month and my form is much more efficient now and my kicking is coming along. No speed records yet but I know that will come. And making new friends.

This week was right on point with nutrition. I dropped 2 pounds by carefully monitoring my food intake. One day of swimming Tim mentioned I looked fatigued and I had dipped down too low calorie-wise the day before, so even though it is off-season, I need to pay attention to that. Really working on eating less sugar and fat, more healthy carbs and drinking more water. It’s going well and I don’t feel hungry or deprived.

Strength training is also starting to show some results. I am starting to see the difference in my arms and legs and that is exciting. I also feel my core more in all workouts, and that is the ultimate goal of it all.

So, settling into off season well, knowing I don’t have a race for 17 weeks. Approved COVID vaccine shipping today – that is the happiest piece of news in 2020.

Did a 10 mile race last Sunday and now it’s officially off season.

Not a PR, but i was able to scratch out a 1:35 (9.37 avg pace per mile), which is only 2 minutes off my PR for that distance. Given just 3 weeks off IMFL, I will take that effort. Was not able to descend from miles 1-6 as I started off too fast, but pulled it together and did descend from 6-10.

Today I did a video session on the track this morning for my coach to evaluate my run form. Looking at this made me realize I really need to work on dropping about 10 lbs. Will start tracking my food in My Fitness Pal and see if I can get motivated to get this done.

The past few weeks have been tough. Mom had a stroke two weeks ago and Dad stayed with us while she was in the hospital and rehab center. Got them home last week and settled. I made a month’s worth of meals for them and put them in their freezer. It’s been really hard to see their struggle and suffering and just trying to do whatever I can to make things easier for them.

From a workout perspective, I’ve been doing strength training twice a week and the new Magnolia Masters swim workouts are much harder then I have been used to in the pool. Using hand and foot drag socks/mitts, the brick kick board, etc. are very challenging. But on the sprints when we take the torture devices off, I am definitely seeing a drop in my times. Had a huge breakthrough on Friday while using the mitts. Tim gave me a correction that helped me stop and “feel” the catch and then accelerate through. It’s really the first time I’ve ever felt my catch like that. Really happy to be training with him now.

Got back on the bike this week too. Two trainer rides and a cold ride outside. Did some one-legged drills on the bike – wow.

So between strength, hard swim and hard bike workouts : even though not training long : training hard. I’m sore. But good sore. No way all this stuff can do anything but make me stronger.

COVID is getting worse everywhere but the vaccine is supposed to be approved by the FDA next week so hopeful things can get back to “normal” sooner then later in 2021.

It’s been two weeks since IMFL. Time went so slow leading up to the race and now it seems like just yesterday I was doing it.

Haven’t been back on my bike yet: will ride next Tuesday and I will say I miss her! I have run and swam a little.

Started swimming with Magnolia Masters this week. Coach Tim Floyd has a completely different style and philosophy from the last swim squad I swam with. So far I am loving it. Very very different; new toys including drag sox and mitts, a brick kick board, kick board and more. These are super hard but then you take them off and you feel like you are flying. The team members have all been very nice and the workouts are varied and it’s fun to be back swimming with a squad again. Mainly, I feel like I have my own space in the water and I feel like I am learning something new. Tim has taken the time to stop me and give me corrections. I am super encouraged that with hard work, I’ll see some improvement in my pace. I’ve been stuck for a while and not improving. Change is hard but this one was a winner.

Also started my strength training with Alyson this week and let’s just say I am feeling that. Arms, legs and core. And feeling it is good. Excited about that too.

TX 70.3 this weekend was cancelled due to COVID. Was just going to go and volunteer/spectate, but really sad to see this. Hopefully the vaccine will be distributed quickly and this nightmare will be over soon.

I am signed up for IRONAN Mount Tremblant next August and will round out 2021 schedule with TX 70.3 in April, Hawaii 70.3 in June, Memphis 70.3 in October and Indian Wells 70.3 in December. Hopefully 2021 will be a go.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep training like it is. Doing well at hydrating more and eating clean. Will keep focusing on the long term and doing all the things I need to do to stay healthy and get better and faster.

It happened!!!!!!! IRONMAN is back and I was there for it!!!!!!!!

IMFL2020 was an amazing experience!!!! Arrived in PCB Wednesday night. After a quick OWS Thursday morning, headed to IM Village to check in. Yes, everything was different in 2020, but IM had spent a lot of time and energy to come up with safety protocols and they got everything right. Had a designated check in time. Village was open to athletes only. After checking in, waited in line for the IM store. All IMFL stuff was available online only, so not much here. There were only a handful of vendors in the village so in and out pretty quickly.

Friday morning, I did a swim-bike-run. All systems were go. Checked in bike and had a pasta dinner at Carrabbas. To bed early.

Woke and was ready and out the door by 3:15 am. Got to transition and everything was pretty different here. Once in (had to have on a mask and got my temp taken), we stayed at our bike until we were called for the swim. No transition tents and our bags were at our bikes. Made a few new IM friends and then headed off for the swim. We were walked down to the beach and put into corrals for our turn to start – I think they did 3 athletes per minute. I went into the water around 6:30. Breakers weren’t awful – got into a rhythm. Then quickly realized there was a pretty serious chop and swell. Sometimes I would try to site and all I could see was the wall of water in front of me. Just keep swimming I told myself. At the turn, much easier, but when turned again, the chop was back. Swam into the shore and then got out for the beach run and to get back in for loop 2. This time, I could see the breakers were bigger. Started swimming and got hit by a huge wave – it knocked my backwards and knocked my googles off. Fortunately I had learned from my trip down here 2 weeks ago to put them under my cap. Stood up and put them back on but salt water in my eyes and realized pretty quickly I still had some water in my left google. Just had to deal with it so got back at trying to get thru this loop. When I finished, I knew this was not going to be a swim PR but when I stood up, a guy (Sam) next to me gave me a fist pump and told me he had swam with me that loop. That made me feel better. Long run back to transition. Saw teammate Neils group at swim out and loved their support! Looking at my swim results after the race, I swam super straight even with the swell and only swam 50 yards long – other IM races I have swam 200-300 long – so that was positive!

Really happy I had water at transition to wash off the sand (IM showers were kind of lame). Got ready and got out on the bike.

Coach had told me to go out under 100 watts and just take it easy. Got over the big bridge (the day’s only serious hill) and then turned east into the wind. I knew to expect this and had planned for it. Coach told me can’t outpower the wind. So I patiently just paid attention to my power as told. So if you know me, I just said I was patient. Stop laughing…….. I knew my speed was slow but if I didn’t hold my power where I was suppose to, this day would be just like IMTX2019 and I didn’t want that again. Since just one loop, this ride was pretty quiet. At the end of this east segment, there was an out and back where we had two way traffic so good to see more people. North segment was tough too (winds were E-NE 15). FINALLY got to mile 40 and the turn onto 20. All of a sudden, I was going 27 mph. Yipeeeeee!!!! Started flying by people and life was GOOD. Made it to special needs and yes, this was my only stop for the day. This is my first 112 with only one stop. WHOOOP!!!!!! Refilled nutrition, went the BR, grabbed my PB&J and was outta there quickly. The next turn north onto 77 meant back into the wind. And a false flat much like IMAZ. Finally the turnaround and miles 76-100 FLEW by because I was flying. Made up time and speed and the hope of a bike PR came back to life. Back at PCB with 12 miles to go. Lots of car traffic (this was an open course) and jigging and jogging out of neighborhoods. Bike nutrition was PERFECT and zero stomach issues!!!! When back, had to rack our own bikes. Got in and out pretty quick and was on the run.

This was two loops of 13 miles – just straight down the PCB strip and back and do it again. We were on the shoulder of the road for most of it. Not dark when I started yet – I think about 3:30 pm. Ran the first 13 miles – took a gel block per mile and was drinking from a handheld. Aid stations were only every 2 miles on this course, but I wasn’t taking anything from the course. Was walking the aid stations. Pace was a little slower here then planned. First loop was 2:45. My lower back was hurting (not really sure why – I guess because I was in aero?) and quads were not so happy with me. Saw David when I got to 13. So this is where I failed a little. By this time, I had eaten 6 packages of gel blocks. I wasn’t sick but the mere thought of another gel block made me want to punch something. So I threw my handheld away. Was thinking how the heck am I going to finish up the last 13 miles? I stopped and went to the BR to refocus and then started out again. The walks out of the aid stations got a little longer. Somehow made it to the turnaround at 18.5. Really great support on the course from spectators but it was getting dark by this point – outside and in my head. All day I had smiled and been so happy to be doing this. Now I was just getting exhausted and I was running out of fuel. Remembered that one of my USAT Ambassador friends Becky had told me pre-race to “dig deep” and my friend Gaby’s mantra “but did you die” – LOL. So many things going thru my mind on that dark road. Then all of a sudden Neil’s sherpa Brandon shows up on his bike during one of my longer walking sessions. He rode with me for about .25 mile – was I sick? what hurt? could I run? Because Neil was just ahead…… Not sure he will understand how much that helped me. So, scrapped up everything left inside of me and started running and this time didn’t stop. Found Neil about mile 25 and he was surrounded by his wife and my teammate Sherra and his friends – their cheers were amazing!!!! Found the strength to get back to sub 11 minute miles that final stretch. Then turned into Pier Park and road to the quiet finish line. Mike Reilly had a bathroom break when I crossed, but honestly at that point, so happy to be done. Very different finish line experience, but it was 100% fine.

Had to get my own bike out of transition (new with COVID) and found David.

Was happy to finish the run in under 6 hours. Was SUPER happy with my bike PR even with the wind. So overall, this is an IM PR for me. Even with having to rack my own bike and no help in transitions – that was probably about 7-10 minutes of extra time.

Minus the wind – the weather was PERFECT! Overcast and not hot.

SO GRATEFUL to IRONMAN and all of the amazing volunteers who made this race happen. I learned a lot and got to do what I love. Very very happy with the entire experience and looking forward to many more races in 2021.

Got my race week email and the IM trucks have rolled into PCB – so it looks like IMFL 2020 is happening. Now even as I type that I remember that Lubbuck 70.3 got cancelled 4 days prior to the race. So anything can happen………

Finished up what should be my last significant workout this am – long swim and 3 mile run. This week’s load felt fairly heavy, but was crushing every workout. Until the swim today – felt tired and sluggish. So ready to try to relax and get extra sleep and rest this week.

This will be my last post until after I race.

I knew that chances of this race happening were pretty slim when I started training for it in August. But experience has taught me doing an IRONMAN is 99% training for it and 1% executing it. So even if IMFL had been cancelled, I would have continued to train and gone and executed it on my own. That said, having my fellow athletes there with me and Mike Reilly at the finish line calling my name is absolutely 1000% better. But I wanted to have an IM experience in 2020 and I did what I could control to have it. I am so grateful and blessed to be going to this race.

I have done everything I could possibly do to have the best outcome possible for me at this race. I’ve done every workout, I’ve studied and worked on my nutrition, I’ve done mobility and injury prevention workouts, I’ve visualized my race in my head a thousand times, I’ve made list after list of preparation checklists, I’ve been on top of my equipment fit and needs. So there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of and no reason to feel anything but confident going into this race.

Time to just do it. I’ll report back on the back side.

Haven’t posted in a few weeks. Mostly because I was in the peak cycle of IM training and truly exhausted. Getting my workouts done and getting my work done was all I could do. And holding my breath that IM wouldn’t cancel the race.

We went to Panama City Beach two weeks ago to check out the course and I was hoping to get in some ocean OWS since I have never done that before. Unfortunately, a hurricane moved through the area the days before we got there and there were rip tide warnings. We arrived Saturday and I ran the run course Sunday and we drove the bike course. Found a better hotel to stay in IM week and got the lay of the land. Monday before we left I did go do a brief OWS even though still moderate rip tide warnings. It was pretty rough, but I did learn to put my googles under my cap (they got knocked off twice) and went thru the breakers four times, so I know what I have to do on race day.

I’m working really hard to do everything my coach is asking of me. He is giving me very specific targets and it’s been challenging to hit them, but for the most part, I am and it feels great (when I’m done – haha).

Started taper this week and that is always weird. I’ve gotten so used to the heavy grind, I feel “off” when the level goes down. But I am sooooooo ready to race.

I have the Athlete Guide and a bib number now (408) and I believe the race will happen. Ready to Just Do It.

Last weekend was insane. I swam IM distance on Friday, rode 100 miles plus a 2 mile ROB Saturday and ran 16 miles Sunday.

Swim was pretty consistent and was happy with that. Ride was pretty good – went out too hard still and had all kinds of power PRs, which probably shouldn’t have happened on a 100 mile ride. But I did a really good job taking in my nutrition for the entire ride, which i have never done as good a job at before. Still think I need to tweak it a bit but big improvement. ROB was OK.

Woke up Sunday and Saturday had been my first 100 where I stayed in aero 99% of the ride. Even at IMAZ 2019, I was probably in and out and only spent 70% of the time in aero. So Sunday morning my lower back had tightened up. I was wondering how I was going to walk to the kitchen much less run 16 miles. Got up and started trying to stretch.

Went up to the IMTX run course to do two 8 mile loops. It was a really beautiful crisp morning. Started running and really didn’t know how I was going to finish this run. At mile 5, I saw two friends. A hug made it a little better. Told myself I had to do this. This is the first training run I remember that “felt” like an actual IM event run. I was outta gas……. But somehow gutted it out and finished.

Went home and tried to do all the “right” things: had a protein shake, got in my normatec boots, took a nap, etc. Still feeling a little wonky Monday, but new coach gave me the day off and I went to see Alyson and we did a bunch of rolling and stretching. Felt better after that.

So this week has been taking it a little easier. Excited to do a long ride Friday with friends and then heading to Panama City Beach Saturday through Monday to do some OWS practice in the ocean, drive the course, check out the new location for the race.

The race, ah, the race. So today I got my hands on the course maps. IM hasn’t posted them, but some clever soul figured out they were public record because the county had to approve them and got his hands on them. They are approved by the county. So the speculation on whether or not this race will really happen continues. No athlete guide or bib list yet. All I can do is keep praying and training. And that is exactly what I intend to do.

Triathlon is my hobby. But I take it very seriously. And I have a very seriously difficult end game in mind for all the blood, sweat and tears I am willing to put into this.

Yesterday, I switched coaches. This isn’t something I’ve talked about much and I won’t here either. This decision was super hard, because the woman who has coached me for the past 16 months is amazing. She brought me from not knowing how to use the bike trainer basically at all to a completely different level. My bike has improved tenfold and I owe that to her. And I love her. She didn’t do anything wrong or bad. But like a lot of things in life, I had to make a hard decision to do what I think will be best for me.

I will be training with Dave Deschenes. Dave is the head of the USAT Foundation. I met him when I attended the USAT Fantasy Camp last year. He used to work for IRONMAN and is an experienced triathlon coach. Dave and I spent a lot of time reviewing my goals and what I am trying to do and I feel 100% confident he is going to help guide me to the big goal. I feel very grateful that he has agreed to coach me and seriously help me put together a game plan for the next 5 years.

Whenever you are trying to do something extraordinary, you are going to have to make tough decisions. Nothing worthwhile is easy or everyone would do it. Can’t look back and I’m moving forward with a lot of gratitude and hope and joy in my heart.