ironcheryl2018

Last week was TAPER week in preparation for the New Roads Triathlon Festival weekend: REAL races!!!!! Signed up for the Sprint on Saturday and 70.3 on Sunday.

Taper week was so much fun. I ran 8 minute pace for .25/mile and did sprints in the pool under CSS – nice to remember I can run and swim fast when I’m not exhausted from training! Felt 100% going into the weekend.

The Saturday race was so much FUN!!! Instructions from coach were to swim CSS swim, go ahead and go 90% on the bike (145 power) and then hold back a bit on the run so not fried for the 70.3 Sunday. I hadn’t expected it, but the swim was wetsuit legal. Jumped in with the 2:00/mile group and had a strong, strong swim. Found a guy to draft off of for the long stretch and swam hard into the ladders. Long swim out run, but had a pretty fast transition. Got out on the bike and felt amazing. Flat, fast ride around the False River lake. Pretty course and rode right where my power was supposed to be. The course was 19.5 instead of 18 miles. This effort was a 20 and 60 minute power all-time best for me. Back in and out with a fast transition and felt great. Ran 10 minute miles for 1 and 2 and then 9:55 on mile 3. Finished and felt amazing. Won AG and was 20th of all women finishers. Drank a protein shake as instructed right after the race to start recovery for the next day.

Woke up Sunday at 4 am. Race started at 7 am. Such a beautiful day!!!!! Was one of the first swimmers in the water and dove in and felt amazing. So weird that today, NOT wetsuit legal, so I was wearing my speedsuit. I am fine with either and swam strong the entire time. Garmin say 2105 yards, so I didn’t swim any “extra” and pretty straight buoy to buoy. Did swing a little wide on one turn but corrected pretty quick.

Link to swim start video:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zw2hzbxkjlpwm6s/IMG_3173.mov?dl=0

Got out feeling great. Got to T1 and there were ants all over my set up. Eck……Just tried to shake everything out before I put it on and kept going. Got out on the course. Visor was fogged up and wet, so kept it off for the first 10 miles. When I finally put it on, such a mess. Took about 6 miles for the moisture to finally clear up. Instructions on this 56 miles were to keep power at 120 for the first 24 miles and then go to 130 for the remainder. About 10 into it, I was at 123. Settled down and by the end of loop 1, was at 117. Did exactly what I planned on nutrition. I was determined not to stop at all on this ride. I used to stop at every aid station to refill nutrition and go to the bathroom. Refilled my bullet at hour 2 by pulling a bottle and refilling it while going 17 mph. For the third hour’s nutrition, I was getting tired so I briefly stopped at the end of an aid station, pulled a bottle, refilled and was out again in about a minute. Worked to pick up the power at mile 24 and did bring the power up to 119. Something isn’t working properly on my right powertap pedal, and that kept going through my head and was making me question if my power readings were really correct. The right pedal was blinking red and then green and wouldn’t calibrate. Day before on the sprint, coach told me only the left pedal (weaker leg) had registered, so powertap just doubles that legs effort since no right. I had opened the app Saturday afternoon and both pedals were showing on, so we thought maybe solved, but Sunday race morning, no bueno. I had another set of powertap pedals do this so need to get them replaced. Told myself to just ride hard now and not worry about it. I worked hard to try to get my power up and to 20 mph. Did it for a while but knew I probably couldn’t hold that power all the way in. Was trying to get in at 3 hours. Ended up at 3:08. Not my best 56 mile effort but was a RACE 56 mile PR. It was 18 mph average and overall, I had done my first negative split ride exactly the way my coach told me to. So the next time, I should be able to do it better. This and taking in all my nutrition was supposed to set me up for a good run.

Nutrition for the day:
4:30 am coffee, banana, 1/2 bagel with cream cheese 345 calories
6:30 am 2 scoops UCAN 260 calories
7 am GU 100 calories
bike hour 1 – 2 scoops tailwind 200 calories – 3 gel blocks 90 calories
bike hour 2 – 2 scoops tailwind 200 calories – 3 gel blocks 90 calories
bike hour 3 – 2 scoops tailwind 200 calories – 3 gel blocks 90 calories
run – one gel block for 6 of first 9 miles – 180 calories
GU at mile 3 – 100 calories
total calories – 1825 (Garmin says I burned 2300 for the swim, bike and run)

My plan for this run was to try to match my HIM run PR in New Orleans in 2019 of 2:19. I had followed my bike plan perfectly to try to set myself up for this. Unfortunately, didn’t happen……..

Got out on the run. First mile was on a skinny sidewalk with no shade. It was terribly hot and crowded (runners going in both directions). At mile 2, I got a stomach cramp. Both sides of my stomach. I stopped at every aid station and drank water and dumped one over my head. The water was very cold and felt great. But the cramps were so bad, I wasn’t sure what to do. I slowed down to 12/min miles just to try to keep running and not walk. At mile 3, an SUV driving through the neighborhood I was running through pulled up next to me and a little girl stuck a huge bottle of Ozarka water out the window and asked me if I wanted it. Did I!!!!!!! I held it and it was so cold, I would just squeeze some over my head and sip some every once in a while. I thought about stopping because of the pain of the cramps, but figured I would at least try to get back to the race site (3 loop course) and see how I felt there. No way I would have been able to keep going without that water that little girl gave me. By the time I got to the start of loop 2, the cramps had subsided. Heard teammates cheering my name and David was there, so that energized me a little. Just ran from aid station to aid station and walked through them and then kept running. When I started the 3rd loop, I wanted to see if I could pick it up and at least wind up with a 2:30 run. Mile 10 got down to 11:49 and mile 13 was my fastest at 11:13 – mostly because I just wanted the run to be OVER. Was proud of myself for battling through the cramps, but disappointed in the run time of 2:41.

Overall, this 70.3 finish time was a 22 minute PR. Mostly because bike split PR and realizing that every second counts and not to stop or waste even one minute. I did win my AG. Finished 24th of 44 women participants.

Have no idea what happened to bring on those cramps since I followed what I thought my nutrition should be. Maybe because hot (didn’t feel hot on the bike), my sodium was low? HAVE to figure this out before IMFL and in general for all future races.

But overall, I GOT TO RACE TWO DAYS in a row!!!!!!!!!!! And I got 2 podiums. And I had so much FUN doing what I love. Great weekend.

Immediate goals are to keep working with Alyson Sheppard on strength and mobility training, eat super clean between now and IMFL, figure out proper fueling on the bike, and explore how to pick up the pace on the swim and the run on these longer races.

Every race is a chance to learn how to improve for the next one and I certainly learned a lot this weekend.

Feeling pretty good today and that’s another GREAT sign!!!! I clearly remember feeling like I had been run over by a truck after my first 70.3!!!!!

Came back pretty strong on Friday with a 4000 yard swim. Held pace pretty well until the last two 400s. But overall, recovered from the week pretty well.

Saturday (my bday) was a 90 mile IM Build ride. I was supposed to hold 68-74% power. Went off a little hard, but managed to pull it back and ended up with AP 108 NP 115. Was right on point with my nutrition and had a strong 4 mile brick run with the last mile at 10 minute pace!!!!

Woke up Sunday with a 10 mile up and down run to do. Was feeling a little tired. Got it done and the up intervals were 10ish so was pretty happy with that. THEN I was DONE. Fatigue set in. I had a protein shake in the am and one before bed. Even took a nap.

Woke up today and still felt tired. I have 5 days to rest and recover for the New Roads sprint and HIM. Made myself go to see Alyson and so glad I did!!! We mainly did stretching and I felt so much better when we finished. Going to have a massage with Amanda shortly and then a short swim.

This week is super light training. So excited about the tris next weekend and hoping the weather cooperates with us.

Hearing the chances of IMFL happening are “50-50”. Which is so much better then not hearing anything. Continuing to pray believing I have already received.

Yesterday was awesome!!!! Had a CSS swim in the morning and was able to hit most of my targets. Then headed over for a session with Alyson – mostly core and upper body. The last thing on my schedule was a 50 minute fartlek run. Decided to get that done in the am as well. Finished those 3 hours and felt pretty good!!!! Worked and then about 7 pm, was ready to go to bed!!!!!

Slept for 10 hours!!!! Woke up still feeling tired. Got up and TRIED to do my 1:15 trainer ride. Got 45 minutes and one hard interval into it and just couldn’t. So I stopped. Don’t do that very often. Just feeling tired and sore all over. I’ve got 4000 in the pool tomorrow and 90 miles followed by a brick Saturday so decided to give myself a free pass and rest up for those workouts. Had a protein shake and concentrating on eating better today. Maybe I didn’t have enough to eat and enough protein yesterday after all those workouts.

It’s a journey…..some days good and some days you learn something………

Haven’t done a Tuesday/Thursday Starbucks ride in 3 weeks because I’ve been doing hard trainer rides instead. Coach gave me a “chill day” today so I decided to go have fun. Love going out and chasing the “fast guys” from the very start and trying to stay with them and my speedy friend Nilay. Was feeling so good today so I just pushed the whole time. And BOOM: suddenly all kinds of power medals.

The past month has been a focus on bike power and getting my equipment perfect (thank you Shama.) Lots.of.hard.work……..

When you train every day for years, you don’t see “huge” jumps in performance overnight. But every once in a while, you get a day like today. And all your hard work pays off and you say to yourself HELL YEAH!!!!!!!

11 days to New Roads Tri : I’m ready for ya!!!!!!

Another week of getting it done in the books.

Tough swim on Friday – 4400 yards. Haven’t swam that far in a long, long time. Was proud of myself for getting it done mentally. The pace I held was pretty good to. Really felt like I needed some encouragement after that swim though so I posted on social media. My watch showed my pace and time and I had said I wouldn’t do that, so I felt kind of bad about that. But I just needed some kudos.

Friday turned out to be very productive. I took my bike to Shama for a bike fit. Didn’t have any expectations but things turned out amazing. The first thing he asked me about was why I had 165 cranks. My very first coach had suggested I might need 155s, but every time I brought it up to a bike fit guy they said it wouldn’t make a difference. Shama said “I use 165s so either I’m wrong or you are.” He’s the experts so I said, let’s do it. He noticed my cleats were close to breaking and fixed those up and put a new oval chainring on and dropped my aero bars into a slightly more aggressive position. Wasn’t sure what to expect but Saturday’s 3 hour ride was PURE JOY!!!!! My hips felt so much more open, pedal stroke felt so smooth and best part – power was higher. Same course one week prior, normalized power was 120. This week 135. Sixth highest power ride ever and I was not going all out, really “pushing” my power. So super excited about this new set up!!!!

Had 12 miles and a recovery swim today – pretty uneventful other then forgetting to bring gel blocks with me on the run, so I died at mile 9 – live and learn.

This week I also did Metabolic testing with Alyson. She is going to go over the results with me tomorrow and I’m excited to hear how understanding this could help make me train smarter and get stronger.

Going to the mailbox was even fun this week. I came in third in the USAT Ambassador Team challenge (most training miles + most fundraising $) for August and they shipped me a package of goodies! Then one of my teammates shipped me three hand-made IM face masks – so sweet!!!!

This week will be another hard one: long swim Friday and a 90 mile ride and brick on Saturday (my birthday)!!!!! But excited to get it done and the following week is RACE WEEK!!!!!!! New Trails, Louisana Spring on Saturday and 70.3 on Sunday. CAN. NOT. EVEN. WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Dragged my feet getting upstairs to do this morning’s trainer ride because I knew it would be hard.

Last week I struggled to understand what I was doing with this workout. I think i figured it out today. I am typically a low cadence rider. On this ride, I learned that higher cadence yields higher power while feeling easier. I also felt that it was easier to keep pedal pressure the same for both feet, while at lower cadence the ride didn’t feel nearly as smooth.

Tough workout but it feels great to get through one like this and be done by 7:30 am and ready to start the day!

Yesterday I booked a trip to Panama City Beach for a long weekend in October to practice my open water swimming for IMFL. SUPER EXCITED about this trip – should be a fun long weekend and haven’t traveled all year except our drive to Omaha for that triathlon, so this will be a great break for David and I. I’ve never done an ocean swim before. Originally I was going to do Hawaii 70.3 in May to “practice” for IMFL. But since that got cancelled, the closest thing I have done in IMTX 70.3 in Galveston Bay.

2 weeks now until the New Roads triathlon. Decided to switch to the full 70.3 on Sunday instead of just the Aqua Bike, cuz why not – haha. I’ve decided to ditch wine until after this triathlon. Excited to see what I can do at this race!!!!!

3 mile run after work today. Then get to sleep early for tomorrow’s CSS swim!

I’ve been IRONMAN training for 4 years now. And last week was, from a training standpoint, my best week ever.

I trained for 17 hours and 2 minutes. I did every workout on my plan; I even added 2 that weren’t on the plan (a fourth recovery swim and a second strength session.)

My Thursday trainer ride was a 10MP Max Aerobice (6×2). Been working on this one for a while and this week, my intervals were 185 watts – they were 180 last week. That was super hard and it felt like a win. Good endurance swim on Friday. Saturday’s 4 hour ride was to be a 65% power and I hit that target perfectly (as opposed to starting out way too high and dying – my usual MO). Then I had a good 4 mile brick. Sunday’s swim was an 8 mile up and down – my tempo intervals were 10:57, 10:28, 10:06 and then 9.44!!!!!! Whoop – haven’t run in the 9s since The Woodlands Half Marathon I think!!!!

New bike has had a bottom bracket issue since I got it. Took it to Shama and he rebuilt it for me. Saturday was first ride and it is 100% better – really smooth. Thinking I need a bike fit though – for some reason feels like my seat should be a little higher.

So while I did all of these things and I am feeling GREAT, it was in a way a little mentally tough. My coach is on vacation, so no feedback on any of these key workouts. Since I had decided not to post any workout data on social media, it was just me looking at my results. A little lonely. Wanted to celebrate some of these wins with someone. So I did text a few friends my trainer ride. But I guess good mental training and important to focus on doing this for myself.

60 days to IMFL. Got a letter from them last week where they described moving IM village and the swim start to a new location; which is so much better then a cancellation notice. So continue to pray thanking God for making this race a reality. (praying believing we have already received)

Ready for the new week and another week of IM training!

It’s only 9 am and I’m already feeling outstanding!!!!  Was at the pool by 5:15 for my CSS swim. It was a hard build but I met most of my targets – WHOOP!!!!!

Then I headed over to meet with Alyson for my second day with optimize performance. My right hip felt super tight after last night’s 1:15 trainer ride at 75% power. We mostly worked on mobility and loosening that puppy up. Also did some upper body strength. I am so excited to be working with her!!!!  On my run yesterday morning, I could “feel” my hips more open. The pilates with Jac is making a big difference too.

Ready to work and then a quick recovery run to end the day. Life is good.

Just added up all my swimming, biking and running miles for August for a USAT Ambassador Team challenge. Crazy how fast all those miles add up!!!!

Today is a great day! Started mobility, injury-prevention and strength training with Alyson Shepherd at Optimize Performance. It was a great session and I left with some “homework” to do every day that will hopefully strengthen my hips and give my IT bands and legs some relief so they can recover more quickly and get stronger and more elastic. Alyson is amazing!!!! Plan to meet with her twice a week.

Feeling so good and ready to attack this week of IM training!!!!!  And this week, I am going to be fully CAPTIVATED WITH PURPOSE!!!!!

Great run (for me) today to top off this week of IM training. A memory popped up on Facebook Friday reminding me that I had done an 18 mile run at 10 minute pace 2 years ago while training for the Omaha Marathon. So that made me believe that I could run 10 minute miles today, although I’ve been truly sloth status running-wise for the past few months.

Got up before the sun to try to beat the heat. Managed to get 10:53 per mile average, which I will take as a win!!!!! I was so drenched by mile 8 that I had to remove my shirt and run in my sports bra, which I NEVER do. After my run, I had a 1500 swim. Yes, a 4th swim for the week because I won’t improve if I don’t swim 4 times per week I hear. It actually felt AMAZING and I think was a really great cool down. So win-win.

Then I headed into town for a pilates session with Jacquelyne. Can really feeling this helping with my hips and overall balance.

While running today, it occurred to me that it was in 2017 that I decided I needed to concentrate on my cycling and #makingmyweaknessmystrength. I still have so far to go, but I think when you look at my swimming and my running right now, my cycling just might have become my strength. No finish line here because I plan to keep getting stronger and better, but now it’s time to redefine #makingmyweaknessmystrength.

Now I’m going to turn my attention to my swimming. I spent every single summer of my life as a kid in the pool. But on swim team, I was pretty much head cheerleader and social chairman. So when I started swimming for triathlon, it wasn’t foreign to me. I wasn’t terrible but definitely not great. I’ve gotten a little better over the years, but honestly, it’s never been anything I have put a good deal of focus on because it’s the shortest part of a triathlon. I always figured as long as I finished and moved on, I was doing OK. Most of the time, I do finish in the top half.  But now, I’m going to make this weakness my strength. I’m going to approach it just like I did my cycling. It’s probably going to take a while. It’s going to be a lot of hard work. And I’m sure it’s going to be a long road. But I’m ready and 1:30/100s I AM COMING FOR YOU.