Thank You Track Gods

After my midweek meltdown I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly. Throwing up the white flag was the best thing I could do. I headed to Troy parents for some Annie help and some nurturing. I was able to jump back into the workouts for my final big weekend of work.

Saturday brought a great ride with the crew. We visited the town of Ward twice. I love that little town. I wish I counted how many times I've ridden my bike up to there this summer. Maybe I'll consult the training logs.

Sunday was a huge track workout. I was so excited the week before after finishing my track workout because I had nailed 21x 1000 on the track at my ironman race pace. Well I get to the track on Sunday, and I'm feeling a little tapped from the stressful week and the hard ride the day before. I'm wondering when I'm not going to nail a workout, when will the bottom fall out.

Not Sunday!

I love the track. This time, the goal was 25x1000 at 5 seconds faster than the previous week, but as I've seen, things can change if my heart rate was unusually high. I got into them and it was just the opposite. I kept tapping my watch, wondering if it was broken. 6 beats lower and 5 seconds faster.

I found my zen place rather quickly and I just cranked them out. It was like clockwork and after #16 Chuckie let me start to get faster. The next 9 I considered my reward. I just let my body run, and I let my heart beat, and my eyes gloss over. The last one was 20 seconds faster than the first and it felt absolutely wonderful.

I've learned such different things this Ironman build. I learned how to work the plan at a whole new level. I learned how to settle into the process and to enjoy the moments where I feel great. i've learned to "not push" unless told to do so, and when told to, then to push with everything I have in me. I've held my body back to stay within a heart rate zone, and I've pushed my body forward to blow my own expectations. I've found out where my true athletic strengths lie, and what part of myself, and my mind, I can depend on.

After 25x1000 on the track, I was one happy girl. This workout was the "hump" of the training block and finishing it felt amazing. Thank you running gods!

I've had 3 days of rest now (just a few easy workouts to keep my body moving) and it's been nice. My mood has been a bit erratic but I took Chuckies orders and decided to pretend I wasn't a triathlete for a few days. I've had fun!

Tomorrow we get back into the swing of things, and then it's 100% eye on the prize for the next month. I can't wait to race at the Ironman World Championships. I've never trained this hard for anything in my life and I'm excited to see how it all goes down. So, for you out there, thanks for keeping me company during my training, hang with me just a bit longer, you've all been so strong!

I'm very much a Saucony girl, and don't actually own a single under armor product, but this commercial got my Grrrrr all fired up!