Ten days ago I was feeling fitter than I've ever been. I was looking forward to a few more days of hard training before our week of babysitting, and then the final push before starting my taper for Kona. Then, the bottom seemed to drop out. After today, I can look back with fresh and objective eyes and see what transpired. First of all, I spoke to my coach yesterday. We discussed my blog from the day before. He quickly reined me in, noting that I'd only run once in ten days, and that might actually lead to some loss of run fitness. That got my attention. Being a good coach, he intuitively knew not to push that button too hard, lest I'd take it too seriously. There's always a fine line when you're a coach, and Lucho is great at straddling the line between encouragement and criticism. In fact, criticism is a word that I would say he almost never leans in to. He came close yesterday, and it got my attention. However, he used data to help me understand that I had been pushing a little too hard on some of my workouts. Combining that 9 days ago with the upcoming reality of a week of babysitting a nearly 4 year old ball of energy, was enough to send me into an ongoing anxious state.
My dad emailed me today and used the word anxiety. That's pretty accurate. I've been training for Kona like I've never trained before. It's important to me to give this race everything I've got. Why not? It's a lifetime dream. Going there and just participating is not who I am. Going to Kona and having the best result possible depending on the circumstances is what I'm all about. Since I dramatically cut back my training last week in order to babysit, it was almost like a mini-taper. The body's response to that is always challenging. The endorphins drop, and any anxieties are heightened. Plus, the daily challenge of watching my grandson, while loads of fun, was certainly stressful, especially when underneath it all I knew that I could have been training.
I felt a huge relief after my call with my coach yesterday, and last night's blog spoke about that. I had an answer to my struggle over the past week. That gave me confidence that today would be a good day. What I didn't fully comprehend was the added benefit of no more babysitting! It was like 100 pounds had been lifted off my back! I decided to do the same run that I'd done 2 weeks ago. A very challenging, very hilly run. However, from the moment I began the run, I dedicated myself to not pushing too hard, and maintaining my heart rate below 140. A truly MAF (maximum aerobic function) run would have me in this range. It's what I'd actually been thinking I'd been doing in the last several weeks on both the run and bike, but not really. I'd been letting the intensity rise above MAF intermittently, which on a certain level is fine, but from the perspective of getting in as much volume of training as possible, has been counterproductive.
The cool thing today was that with my confidence back, and the weight of babysitting off, I felt like I had wings. I enjoyed every minute of todays run. Well, maybe the last 45 minutes were a little more challenging, as the heat of the day increased into the mid eighties. Nevertheless, for the first three hours (and essentially 16+ miles), I kept on target with my goal for the day. Over the last hour, it was hot, I was tired, and I did let my heart rate increase into the 140-150 range, which by many criteria, is still not too high (zone 2 per Joe Friel). I stopped at my daughters house with two miles left to replenish my fluids and electrolytes and grab some ice. This made a huge difference on the final climb and getting back home.
I felt so good when I got home that I decided to ride one loop of my hilly bike course, all the while keeping my power down to less intense levels. It felt great! I've never done this after a long run, though I have done some easy spinning to loosen the legs and flush them out. This was even better. It also increased my confidence for tomorrow's long bike ride. I'd originally thought of doing tomorrow's ride on a flat course because of the intensity issue, but after today's run and bike, I think that I can handle more hilly loops in my neighborhood so long as I pay attention to my power output.
The title of today's blog kept changing as my workout progressed today. My first thought was the importance of a good coach. I then changed it to "getting off the ledge," which was how I felt last week. I finally was going to change it to "It's all about the run," which I think will be a topic for another day. In the end, I realized that my successful workout today needed to be solely dedicated to my coach and the importance of having great coach in order to do this ironman thing properly!
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