A few months ago, I sat with my coffee, composing a post in
a free window of time made possible thanks to insomnia. And here I am again,
only instead of being 3 months and change from race day, it’s 3 days and a
couple of hours away. I know, I should be sleeping. But rather than lie awake
imagining treacherous wet descents, 7 hours of squinting into the rain, and the
misery of the Pemby flats accentuated by wind and road spray (any guesses on
the weather forecast?), I thought I might as well get up and catch things up
here. And maybe, just maybe reassure myself that I’m at least as trained up
this year, as I was for Challenge last year.
The fact is, I haven’t been strong and healthy this last month of training. I got sick the day after the Scotia Half with a bronchial infection. Took 3 days off and then resumed training, including a horrible hot, abysmally slow ride up in Whistler that had me worrying about bike cut-offs for the first time ever. I have been so confident on the bike prior to now that I’ve never even looked up the bike cut-offs up! Worried about swim cut-offs and overall race limits sure, but the bike? Forget about it! But back to my training re-entry… the province was on fire and the air quality was awful but I continued training, relying often on my asthma puffer, which I only ever use pre-run in sub-zero temperatures. As I wrapped things up at work and prepared for some time off… cold sore… for me a hallmark of stress and fatigue. I normally get a couple a year. This was my second in a month. The next day, lost toenails (common) turned into infected toes (never). The day after that, a second cold sore (wtf). It seemed my immune system was MIA! Coach benched me for another 3 days. I got myself to a clinic for some antibiotics and tried not to panic. Two weeks out from race day, and I’m on antibiotics and rest. Grrr. After a couple of days, the cough was gone… hooray, health here I come! Or not. The day after I finished the course of antibiotics, I woke up with a head cold, and a mysterious rash. And yesterday, the tell-tale tingle and bump of a cold sore on the way. Hopefully this one I can ward off with the Rx the clinic doc offered up when I presented in a sad state 10 days ago. I don’t know why my body isn’t fighting anything right now – but I’m hoping it’s prepared to fight through that long day of racing on Sunday. And with all the hard work of training done, it’s time to work on my mental game. Instead of focusing on the 6-days off due to illness – which was really only 4 because 2 of those were originally scheduled as rest days anyway – it’s time to focus on all the work I have done. And with that… time to look at the last month of training…
The fact is, I haven’t been strong and healthy this last month of training. I got sick the day after the Scotia Half with a bronchial infection. Took 3 days off and then resumed training, including a horrible hot, abysmally slow ride up in Whistler that had me worrying about bike cut-offs for the first time ever. I have been so confident on the bike prior to now that I’ve never even looked up the bike cut-offs up! Worried about swim cut-offs and overall race limits sure, but the bike? Forget about it! But back to my training re-entry… the province was on fire and the air quality was awful but I continued training, relying often on my asthma puffer, which I only ever use pre-run in sub-zero temperatures. As I wrapped things up at work and prepared for some time off… cold sore… for me a hallmark of stress and fatigue. I normally get a couple a year. This was my second in a month. The next day, lost toenails (common) turned into infected toes (never). The day after that, a second cold sore (wtf). It seemed my immune system was MIA! Coach benched me for another 3 days. I got myself to a clinic for some antibiotics and tried not to panic. Two weeks out from race day, and I’m on antibiotics and rest. Grrr. After a couple of days, the cough was gone… hooray, health here I come! Or not. The day after I finished the course of antibiotics, I woke up with a head cold, and a mysterious rash. And yesterday, the tell-tale tingle and bump of a cold sore on the way. Hopefully this one I can ward off with the Rx the clinic doc offered up when I presented in a sad state 10 days ago. I don’t know why my body isn’t fighting anything right now – but I’m hoping it’s prepared to fight through that long day of racing on Sunday. And with all the hard work of training done, it’s time to work on my mental game. Instead of focusing on the 6-days off due to illness – which was really only 4 because 2 of those were originally scheduled as rest days anyway – it’s time to focus on all the work I have done. And with that… time to look at the last month of training…
IMC: 5 weeks to go (June 22-28)
|
Challenge:
5 weeks to go (July 21-27)
|
|
Total
training hours
|
11:51
|
19:02
(includes training camp)
|
Swim
|
3:41 / 8.35
km
|
3:50 / 8.67
km
|
Bike
|
4:22 / 111.4
km
|
10:43 / trainer
time + 207.6 km on road
|
Run
|
3:48 / 38.1
km
|
4:29 / 42.6
km
|
Strength
training
|
||
Yoga
|
||
SBR Total
|
11:51
|
19:02
|
I had tried to
motivate myself into pushing hard enough to get that sub-2 by reminding myself
race day that my fellow IMC-athletes were out on 7-hour rides that Sunday, and
that if I was missing that ride, I had better make this count.
Yeah, so that
didn’t work. Another swing and a miss: 2:02:10.
IMC: 4 weeks to go (June 29-July 5)
|
Challenge:
4 weeks to go (July 28-Aug 3)
|
|
Total
training hours
|
13:07
|
22:41 (includes
training camp)
|
Swim
|
1:28 / 3.1
km
|
4:58 / 10.58
km
|
Bike
|
10:36 / 241.1
km
|
13:09 / 304.5
km
|
Run
|
1:03 / 10.1
km
|
4:34 / 42.5
km
|
Strength
training
|
||
Yoga
|
||
SBR Total
|
13:07
|
22:41
|
 |
| Slurpee! |
And this is the week I got sick but still… this comparison
is not boosting my confidence. This weekend included the terrible ride in
Whistler. Here I am about 4 hours in, having arrived in Pemberton after
battling a head-wind and heat for 2 hours. As soon as we crested the corkscrew,
the air quality changed. Smoky, hazy, searing your lungs. We didn’t know it
when we set it out, but it was obvious now: there’s a big fire in this area. I'd been fantasizing for a while about what I was going to have when I got to the PetroCan... Something cold, something thirst quenching...We
had a treat, loaded up on water, and decided we wouldn’t do ourselves any
favours riding the flats in the smoke, and headed back to Whistler.
Very, very slowly.
Standing in Alta Lake post-ride to cool the legs, I texted my Coach my
worries about the bike cut-off… and flashed back to 3-weekends pre-Challenge when I texted him that I couldn’t swim in Okanagan Lake!
I vowed to stop doing on-course training 3-weekends from race day in future, and hoped it wouldn’t be in the mid to high 30s race day… looks like I’m getting my wish! :-/
 |
| Whistler on the left, Pemberton on the right. |
IMC: 3 weeks to go (July 6-12)
|
Challenge:
3 weeks to go (Aug 4-10)
|
|
Total
training hours
|
16:46
|
14:58
|
Swim
|
4:55 / 10.12
km
|
4:13 / 9
km
|
Bike
|
7:40 / 185.4
km
|
7:11 / 175.6
km
|
Run
|
4:11 / 38.5
km
|
3:34 / 32.9
km
|
Strength
training
|
||
Yoga
|
||
SBR Total
|
16:46
|
14:58
|
Feeling a little better about this comparison. I missed a 2 hr ride / 30 minute run brick because of the second “benching “.
IMC: 2 weeks to go (July 13-19)
|
Challenge:
2 weeks to go (Aug 11-17)
|
|
Total
training hours
|
13:00
|
13:15
|
Swim
|
2:43 / 5.46
km
|
4:18 / 8.96
km
|
Bike
|
5:27 /
141.4 km
|
5:37 / 145.9
km
|
Run
|
2:50 / 27.1
km
|
3:20 / 32.1
km
|
Strength
training
|
||
Yoga
|
2:00
|
|
SBR Total
|
11:00
|
13:15
|
Missed a bit of swim and run time because of Coach’s “you’re on rest” directive.
So am I feeling better after this? Maybe… maybe not. I did discover that I misaligned my weeks in doing these comparisons for the prior posts. And as I have a chuckle over that, I realize perhaps the point here is not to focus on what I’ve done this time vs last time, but to focus on what I’ve done. Period. And what I did last year was part of the journey too, building my fitness and giving me experience. Right now, it’s time to focus on this weekend. I head up to Whistler today – not sure if it will ground me, excite me, or send the nervousness into overdrive. Probably the latter… stay tuned. For now, it’s time for more coffee and my Q15 minute weather check!
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