My Road to Challenge: Training Weeks 36-39 of 40

Tardy with the posting… again! Peaking in training certainly ate up much of my time but I had expected to be able to post regularly during my taper. And well… here we are 9 days post-race so clearly that didn’t happen. Just in case anyone has been following along, or comes upon this later and wants to compare to their own training, I’ll complete the training saga – filling in with a few details harvested from Facebook. Because really, this journey was about so much more than race day and I want to be able to look back and remember. Really. I’m only going up to week 39 for this one because I think the final week deserves its own post.

	Week 36 (July 21-27)	Cumulative
Total training hours	19:02	525:37
Swim	03:50 / 8.6732 km	104:57 / 219.6125 km
Bike	10:43 / (trainer time + 207.6 km)	189:47 (spin class + trainer time + 2685 km)
Run	04:29 / 42.6 km	133:57 / 1333.46 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Week 36 included my second training camp with girlfriends. We headed up to Whistler to volunteer at Ironman Canada and to get in some training. I had the “good” fortune to see bears on every ride. During my long ride of the weekend – riding the full course minus the T1 to 99 stretch – I had a slight mishap on the bike, riding at speed into a very large rock on the shoulder between Whistler and Pemberton. I was sporting a mighty impressive bump, despite not crashing. We’re nearly 6 weeks past that and it’s still bruised and tender to the touch. When I stopped in Pemberton to peel off some layers, I took a picture and chronicled my tale of woe:

Busy highway. One bear encounter. And this. The good news is while I thought for a while my left big toe might be broken, I can no longer feel it. About halfway through my ride. Am I having fun yet? No.

For my IMC volunteer duty, I had the privilege of body marking nervous athletes before they boarded the buses and headed to the swim start. Later, I was a catcher on the finish line, working the first shift when the pros came in and the faster age-groupers.  The year before I’d worked the last shift. Working the first shift taught me something: ironman hurts – whether you’re finishing in 8 hours and change or just before the cut-off, it hurts. I’m not sure it was great for my mental game to be up there so close to my own race but it was wonderful to cheer on my PRM friends, especially the IM virgins! It was a great day.

	Week 37 (July 28-Aug 3)	Cumulative
Total training hours	22:41	548:18
Swim	04:58 / 10.5819 km	109:55 / 230.1944 km
Bike	13:09 / 304.5 km	202:56 (spin class + trainer time + 2989.5 km)
Run	04:34 / 42.5 km	138:31 / 1375.96 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Hello peak week! The August long weekend also served as Training Camp 3.0 and I headed up to Penticton for a few days of training with girlfriends. Five women, one bathroom. It was luxurious after the previous weekend when we had 6 and one bathroom!  Rides this weekend included riding the Full course on Saturday and the Half course on Sunday. Both beautiful, challenging rides. It was my first time riding the full course, and also my biggest ride to date. Ultraman Canada was also taking place this weekend and Saturday we were encountering athletes on the course and receiving support and encouragement from their crews! One of the highlights of the weekend came halfway into my Saturday ride, while baking in the Okanagan heat along the rollers, one of the Ultraman crew ran alongside me pouring cold water on my back and shoulders. Bliss! And I felt like a bit of a rockstar. LOL. 15 km later, we were waiting out a thunderstorm and eating salty snacks in the car with our sherpa.

Lowlight of the weekend? Swimming in Okanagan Lake. I swam late Sunday afternoon and it was a choppy, challenging, nausea-inducing nightmare. I was reassured by others that it’s not like that in the mornings. Ha! Monday morning it was worse. I texted a tantrummy missive to my coach: I don’t think I can swim in this lake. And spent the next 3 weeks worrying about the swim cut-off.

	Week 38 (August 4-10)	Cumulative
Total training hours	14:58	563:16
Swim	04:13 / 9.0044 km	114:08 / 239.1988 km
Bike	07:11 / 175.6 km	210:07 (spin class + trainer time + 3165.1 km)
Run	03:34 / 32.9 km	142:05 / 1408.86 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

The taper begins!! My body took the drop in activity a little too seriously and I ended up missing a bike workout on the Wednesday – which I’ve dubbed Narcoleptic Wednesday.

	Week 39 (August 11-17)	Cumulative
Total training hours	13:15	576:31
Swim	04:18 / 8.9596 km	118:26 / 248.1584 km
Bike	05:37 / 145.9 km	215:44 (spin class + trainer time + 3311 km)
Run	03:20 / 32.1 km	145:25 / 1440.96 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Saturday of this week, I went over my race plan with my coach. I felt good about the plan, good about the training. For the most part, I was feeling ready (swim worries aside). Unfortunately, while being outfitted with some demo race wheels (oh happy day! Thank you Gray Cycling Canada!), my coach surveyed my bike and advised that during my bike servicing on Monday, I should replace the chain… cassette… cables. Whaaaa? I already felt like I was hemorrhaging  money into this venture, so this was not good news. I also wasn’t sure if the friend who had generously offered to service my bike in exchange for beer, gratitude and a kiss on the cheek, was prepared for that kind of effort!

Still, despite those worries, I had a good training ride on Sunday and came home feeling ready and excited for race day.