ironcheryl2018

Met with Coach Dana and worked out my race schedule for the rest of this year:

CB&I Sprint Tri,  May 6
Sylvan Beach Sprint Tri, June 10
Cypress Sprint Tri, July 30
Towne Lake Olympic distance Tri, Sept. 4
Omaha Half Marathon, Sept. 17 GOAL: 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!
Oilman Half IRONMAN, Nov. 5
IRONMAN Arizona, swim & bike only, Nov. 19

Excited to train and work towards the ultimate goal of IRONMAN TEXAS 2018.

 

This is an important blog post because I will no doubt need to re-read this one many times over the next year. I volunteered at the finish line of IRONMAN TEXAS 2017 Saturday afternoon. AND I AM SO MOTIVATED TO BECOME AN IRONMAN IN 2018. So I will likely come back to this post as the training gets tough, to remind myself of how I feel right now.

After watching the race, doing a half Ironman most certainly does not make me an IRONMAN. It is twice the distance but clearly more than twice as hard. I touched a few hundred people as they crossed the finish line Saturday. I gave them their medal and was likely the first person to congratulate them – what an honor. I felt their sweat (literally), saw the look in their eyes, felt their emotion. Some were overjoyed. Some didn’t know where they were. Some obviously had some great pain that had driven them to do this. Some were simply overwhelmed.

I saw the good, the bad and the ugly, and I want all of it. All day as I watched the swim and some of the ride and watched the run for about an hour before my medal shift, I kept asking myself “can you do this?” And deep in my heart, I know the answer is yes. I know I can do this. I know this because I saw everyone of my teammates cross the finish line, except one who crashed on her bike due to another rider’s error. Watching these amazing people train and being on the receiving end of all of their support has helped me so much. Finish Strong won the team division and while many of these athletes did exceptional; you don’t have to be first or at the top to be an IRONMAN. All you have to do is finish in 17 hours; which don’t get me wrong isn’t easy; but I can do that. Not today. I have a lot of training to do. But I’m going to do every bit of it and I am going to become an IRONMAN.

Starting to work on some of the main things I need to get done by next year. Working on getting a tri bike and retire my ill-fitted road bike. Finally getting into aero when I ride. Making going to track a habit and getting a bit faster on the run. Feeling great in the pool and finally starting to do the workouts the way I should instead of just pounding through laps. Reading every single race report from last weekend I can get my hands on to learn what people ate, what they had in all those bags, how they dealt with the swim, etc. Still so far to go until next year, but truly enjoying the journey.

CB&I Sprint Tri is next weekend – looking for a new PR there. Then working to finalize the rest of my races for the year.

Hopefully the thought of hearing those words: Cheryl Perry: You are an IRONMAN will keep me as motivated on long runs in July as I feel right now.

Woke up this morning having completed IRONMAN Texas 70.3.  I am not going to say I “just did a half Ironman” – it was hard. Grueling. Kind of scary. But I finished in the allotted time, crossed the finish line and became an IRONMAN.

Had a really great swim – felt really comfortable in the water and got out feeling great. The water was kind of choppy so very glad I had done that last minute conroe swim Thursday night where the water was sort of the same.

Nothing previously could have prepared me for the wind I was going to have to face on the bike. Had a short practice session on the sea wall Saturday morning, but it was absolutely fierce. Just hung in there and did the best I could – rode at about 14 mph out and back around 13.5 – wind was more of a factor coming in. I was so happy to come back in and have so many Finish Strong teammates and David there cheering me in. Meeting the bike cut off (if you don’t get to a certain point by a certain time you can’t advance and get a Did Not Finish) was absolutely a goal for me here, so very very happy to have had this ride, even though comparatively it’s not impressive. I have a long way to improve here.

Got off the bike and thought I was home free. Started to run and felt terrible cramps on both sides of my stomach. I can tell you I literally have never had this happen before. So I stopped at every aid station to drink 2 gatorades and tried to stay calm. Ran the entire time the first of the three run loops. Second one I walked through the aid stations and slowed down quite a bit. But then just sheer determination kicked in to get it finished. Thinking my power on the bike was higher than it had ever been due to the wind and maybe I hadn’t taken in enough water for all the GU and gel blocks I had taken.

But I toughed it out and I really can’t even describe the feeling of crossing that finish line – PURE JOY. All the pain, the hundreds of hours of training, all the aches and scrapes and broken ankle; all of that just goes away and you know you have done something you once never even remotely considered a possibility just happened.

This happened because of excellent training. Thank you Dana Lyons for telling me what I needed to do. Thank you to my amazing teammates from Finish Strong Coaching for all their support and advice. Training partner Ivonne Vandanam; thank you for making this journey fun and I’m looking forward to the next year of training for IMTX 2018 with you!!! David Perry you are absolutely my soulmate and I love you so much for being supportive of all of this craziness.

I have 12 months and 3 weeks to prepare for the full IRONMAN TEXAS 2018. I plan to do another half before then. I know my IRONMAN journey is still a long road in front of me. I have SO MUCH MORE to learn about this sport; so much more training to do; so much more to learn about properly fueling my body. But I’ve conquered this BIG step and it was a giant leap.

Haven’t posted in a while – mainly because every waking moment I’ve either been working or training for this Half Ironman.

It’s clear to me now after training for 3.5 months for this race that God sent me a gift with my broken ankle before the Oilman Half. I wasn’t ready for that race and may not have finished. I have learned SO MUCH over the past few months and thanks to Finish Strong Coaching and Dana Lyons, I am as trained as I could possibly be for this Half Ironman on Sunday. I know I can finish in the time cutoffs and I am 100% more comfortable on my bike.  Funny how with a little time, something that seemed awful can come into focus.

So now all there is to do is go execute my race and not freak out over things I can’t control, like the weather. I have a time in mind for each segment of the race, but my goal for the Galveston Half Ironman Sunday is to finish. To throw my hands up in the air crossing the finish line knowing I did everything I could to get there. And it’s going to feel AMAZING!!!!

This road to the Ironman is taking shape and I know it’s still a long road to my full Ironman in 2018, but it’s very clear to me now what I need to do to get there and, most importantly, that I have it within me to do it.

Final OWS before Galveston

Today was one of those days – feeling sick. Laid in bed thinking I should just stay there. But I got up and ran 7 miles. Worked all day. Rode 6 miles tonight (got too dark to do the whole workout.) Occurred to me that crossing the finish line at the Ironman won’t make me an Ironman – it’s all these days powering through the training with no excuses is what is going to make me an Ironman. No excuses……

 

After 5 days here in Tucson with Finish Strong Coaching, I have to say I feel like I’ve taken a huge leap on this Ironman journey. Most of my teammates here are already Ironmen, so the chance to get advice from them and hear their stories has been so valuable.

I was scared to come. Scared I might not be able to keep up. Scared I couldn’t do it. Just like anything in life, if I hadn’t tried, I wouldn’t know. I was at the back of every ride for sure. But I tried. And I did OK. I got better and stronger.

At the end of yesterday’s ride, which I almost talked myself out of doing, I was climbing a steep hill. I got to the top, couldn’t clip out and I fell. Pretty hard. nothing broken, but my knee hurt and I felt out of control and mad, sad, cried. Allison, Amie, and Karen were right there and they made me get back on my bike and ride the rest of the way. And that is exactly what I needed to do. Can’t stop or give up because you fall, right? I don’t do that in my business life, or my personal life, so why would I do it when I train? I need to get tougher.

Getting comfortable on my bike is going to be a long process. And I’m sure I am going to fall many more times. But doing something so scary to me and challenging is healthy and good and worthwhile. Thankful that I’m healthy enough to be doing this.

So I did something that scared me this week. And I’m better for it. Galveston Half Ironman  is 7 weeks away. And I hear the “climb” on the bike is 92 feet versus 6000 feet I did on Thursday. Piece of cake, right?

It’s been too long since I’ve posted here. So much has happened since mid-December. We took the family to the Bahamas for a wonderful vacation and came back and ran the Houston Half Marathon in a decent time. So, great news, been able to train hard and concentrate on getting ready for the Galveston Half Ironman race in April.

So I decided to go with Finish Strong Coaching to Arizona this week for their winter triathlon training camp. Day one was a ride up Mount Lemmon. I can’t really even describe what I did today. You know when you go to a spin class and you do an intense climb for 5 minutes? Yeah, like that for over 2 1/2 hours. It was pretty much straight uphill – my speed was averaging 6 mph, but really closer to 5 most of the time. I completely melted down at 13. Got off the bike and cried. Had a really really awesome person riding with me, much much slower than she should have been, who refused to let me give in. Allison Stephan you are simply amazing and I hope that I can help someone some day the way you helped me today. I managed to go 4 more miles until I just could not go any more.

While I’m upset with myself for not being able to endure the pain for the remaining 6 miles, I realize that for a beginner like me, this was one of those experiences that will make me stronger. Everyone on the ride struggled and described today as a very tough and advanced ride. So making it as far as I did with as little riding training as I have under my belt was probably OK.

Another important step on this Ironman journey. It’s physical and mental and spiritual. I’m going to have to believe with all my heart that I can do this for it to happen.

Time to go to sleep. up at 7 am to run, and swim, and bike tomorrow……..

Today, it’s been 8 weeks since my ankle break and I’m happy to say I ran 4 miles outside today. Can’t say it’s completely normal again, but that’s OK, slow and steady is better than not running at all.

Made a visit to Mobility Chiro Therapy for some help getting back to normal from Clayton Hall. Very hopeful that he will be able to help me get through the Houston Half Marathon successfully. Did some dry acupuncture – another first for me.

Really hoping this detour on my Ironman journey is coming to an end. There really is nothing worse than a runner who can’t run, is there?  Just ask David Perry – I believe he can confirm that fact. BTW – have I told you how much I love you for helping me through all this broken ankle nonsense sweetheart?

 

It’s taken me a while to post this step on my Ironman journey. On October 25th, while 5 miles into a pre-dawn 9 miles run, I fell and broke my ankle. First time in my life I have ever broken a bone. 12 days before my 70.3 mile Half Ironman.

Today is the day I would have stood at that start line. Pretty bummed I’m not there, but trying really hard to keep everything in perspective. Great news is, I only have a hairline fracture, no tendon damage, and I should be back swimming, riding and running on a gravity trainer in 3 weeks. What I now realize is that the opportunity to wake up every morning and do these things is a huge blessing. And I’m counting the days until I’m whole again and I can get back on my Ironman journey.

Not just sitting around. I’ve turned my attention to my ever-so-ignored upper body. I can crab crawl backwards upstairs to the gym and I’m doing all the P90X upper body and ab workouts  every other day. And there is no doubt that all this crutches moving around is pretty good for my upper body as well.

If there was ever an excuse for me to bow out of doing this Ironman thing, I think this would be it. Everyone would understand, right? It’s hard. Really hard. It’s a little bit risky. But, that’s not happening. I’m more committed than ever. Signing up for the Galveston Half Ironman in April. Doc says I should be able to do the Houston Half in January. Actually, I’m ready to sit down and plan my entire race year for 2017, which will include starting my full Ironman training in late 2017.

I have always believed things happen for a reason. I think this happened because I was losing perspective about why I started this journey. The journey is the reason. I’m doing it because I can. And I need to enjoy every step. Admittedly, this particular chapter is a little hard to “enjoy”, but the time and opportunity to focus on my upper body and research nutrition is what I need to focus on.

So, the Oilman is going to come and go without me today. But, I’ll be there in 2017. Stay tuned; I’m coming back stronger.

Exhausted. That’s it – just exhausted. And being “overtired”, as my mom used to say, made me cry and want to quit this weekend 35 miles into a 42 mile bike ride.

But I’m NOT GOING TO QUIT. I’m going to finish 70.3 in 2 weeks. I will not even be close to half way done with my Ironman journey after this race, but it is a very big step and I WILL FINISH. I WILL FINISH the bike before the 12:30 cutoff. I WILL. I AM NOT A QUITTER.