So today marks the 22 weeks until the 70.3 Ironman in Boise, and I am now officially registered for the event! There is no backing out now, and I need to really focus on my training and not let a single day go to waste. That doesn't mean that there won't be rest days, but it's just that the rest days need to be planned better, and when I do work out, that I make every single one of them count. This past week saw me getting back into the pool after a week off because of the holidays and craziness. 2 days of pool work, along with some lifting and running and the bike, of course.
In the pool, I've been really working on the Total Immersion swimming and trying to focus on the technique of streamlining my body for more efficiency. I spent pretty much all of December in the pool without a single arm stroke, just going back and forth doing different drills, trying to reinforce the method behind the madness. I'm doing my best trying to get out to the pool with a couple of firefighter friends who are also going to be doing some sprint triathlons and have been doing the TI swimming for a while. Every time I'm with them, I'm learning more and getting great tips on my technique. Last week, we had another firefighter friend who is a former collegiate swimmer and former Navy SEAL come out and swim with us, giving us even more info and tips. That was the first time in a month that I did full arm strokes with my swim. Everyday I seem to learn more, and it fuels the furnace and makes me want to get back in the water the next day and continue to develop my stroke. The things I need to work on for my swimming include, easing up on my kicks, slowing my stroke rate down and lengthening out more. I also need to work on my left arm stroke. With my right arm, I can feel the propulsive power. But then my left arm just kind of flings around and just takes up space and doesn't really help out as much. I'm going to try and do some drills to slow down my stroke rate and see if that helps. I might also have to work on breathing from my left side instead of just my right, and see if that makes a difference or not either.
My biking is coming along, although I got a little injury down below. Not to the family jewels, but just behind them. Not sure what I did today while on the bike, but it totally prevented me from hitting my run after the bike portion was over. I am currently trying out my friend's Adamo split nose saddle, and if this tenderness doesn't ease up in a few day I might have to go back to the stock felt saddle that I was using. The only other thing of interest on the bike, is that we got a new fluid trainer at work. I made a phone call to Kurt Kinetic and they totally hooked us up with their pro discount. So we now have a fluid trainer at the station, meaning I no longer have to lug my CycleOps trainer with me to work everyday I bring my bike. One less thing to load and unload is always a blessing.
The running is continuing to come along. I need to continue with some run drills and really work on my pose. It's different running on the treadmill vs outside. While outside, I feel like I can get into the pose stance/rhythm a lot easier than while on the treadmill. But with the weather being unpredictable like it is, the treadmill is sometimes my only option.
So it's now 22 weeks away, and I'm signed up. Now that it's going to actually happen, I gotta say, I'm a little nervous. Mostly because it's the unknown of everything. Not only is this my first Ironman, it's my first triathlon ever. I know I can finish, but it's just how well I finish and how I feel at the finish line that has me nervous. But for now, all I can do is continue to train, continue to dabble in my nutrition and try to stay injury free until after June 9th.
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