The above photo is a common sight in Wolcott in the winter. Any hoo I decided to stay home and pop in my new Spinervals 2 hour aerobic DVD....I was in the blue zone the entire time yet I was still sweating like a sumo wrestler in a sauna... granted my bike is set up right infront of my heater.....so yes I have kona-esque conditions to train in....a cool breeze and people handing out water bottles, and coasting will make IM New Zealand seem like a heaven...until I do something stupid like go anaerobic at the 50 mile mark....or get fed up with going nowhere on the trainer. Today I woked and froze my tail off. My printer on the drive through will not operate after prolonged periods in the cold so the heater at my window was permenately affixed on the printer as my co-workers and I froze ( I tried moving the heater at one point but the damn printer froze after about 3 minutes...so the machine won out over homeostasis) I got to the local Y and did a 3100 yard work out my first pool time since Tuesday.
Now part of me feels like I'm undertrained...I've never done a century ride yet I'm trying to race one and throw a marathon ontop of it. I've done long runs so I know I can handle the run, I was practically born in the pool so the swim will be the fun part...despite the greco-roman wrestling at the start....start wide cut in...my mantra to avoid elbows to the face. But the bike the "easy" part is what's giving me anxiety...over and over I've read the articles about guys who've gone into Ironman's completely read to rumble yet have suffered on the ride and had been shot to hell on the run. The fact that I have had to rely on the trainer for the last two weeks, and will most likely rely on it for this week are running through my mind along with the words of Roch and Paul , and Cycling Guru from the Y....you cannot not expect to tackle the Ironman bike doing all of your long rides on a trainer...yet for me this seems to be grim reality as mother nature bitch slaps my training program, Yes I do need to get on the road when and where it's possible ( hoping for a January Heatwave..I don't need 70's like last year but a couple of ice/snow free weeks with some 45-55 degree days would be ideal... I only need 3 Sat/Sun. 1 for the long ride 2 for the long bricks.)but the constant spinning on the trainer should help my legs get used to 5 hours of suffering in the saddle...the words of Jeff, the Newington Bike Shop's, multi Iron Finisher when I told him my longest ride so far was only about 70 miles , were encouraging..." You'll be fine...you may not win it but you should finish." Well the finish was never in doubt...barring injury....but it's just I don't want to be a back of the packer...I have a medal streak going that I'd like to uphold...also I would love a non-lotto Kona slot to add to my wall of achievements...but I still have a shot at Eagleman...but that will be a day of untold pain/pushing to the absolute limit/ and going anaeorbic until the latic acid fills my eye balls and gushes out my ears... and that might not get me a slot with some of the speed demons that show up....to anyone at the office don't expect me on on June 9....the Ironman in NZ seems a little more realistic but my main worry is the bike...I know I will come out in the mix on the swim...I could have a good shot in the run ( granted they've got some sub 3:30 runners in my group...my goal of a 3:45-4:00 marathon might not be enough.) but it is that 5 to 6 hours of mystery on The Bitch Stomper that has me leary....will I come off "fresh" and ready for action...or will I be getting passed by power walkers....will my training be enough to meet the cutoff....will my body be ready for road vibration... all the ifs....it's like I'm standing at the swim start and looking into the ocean and I don't have a clue which way the current is flowing...the only thing I am sure of is the Start Saturday March 1, 2008 7AM ....and I have until 12:00AM Sunday March 2 to get it done.
2 comments:
I'm sorry to hear the weather is not cooperating out there. Let's hope for the typical Jan thaw, so you can get some saddle time in on the road.
You'll do great. We New Englanders are a tough crowd. If you can handle the incredible boredom of peaking for a southern hemisphere race while training in a New England winter, kicking ass and taking names at the ironman is going to be cake. And what's that line? "It's better to be 10% undertrained than just 1% overtrained"? I don't think that's exactly it, but you get the idea.
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