It's finally July and Ironman training is only a memory. It started on Monday, January 2nd, 2012 with a 2000m swim and it finished with a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. And June, the last month of training before the big day, was one of the hardest ones to get through.
I gave up alcohol on May 23rd and promised myself I wouldn't drink at all through June 24th at the Finish Line or Ironman. I stuck to my rule and didn't have a sip of anything that had any alcohol. I feel proud of myself because we definitely had some great BBQ's and trips where I would've loved a beer.
My main goal for June was to stay focused since the previous year I struggled with sticking to some workouts. I managed it well and while I still skipped just a couple of workouts, I managed to do 90% of them.
My emotions were all over the place... I got mad at everyone and loved everyone as well. I yelled at some people and laughed with others. Man, this is ALWAYS a challenge. Regardless, I was content with my training and kept my confidence until I walked up to that start line.
June's numbers:
Weight: While I was happy with the 134lbs, my goal for race day was 132lbs. The morning of June 24th, I stepped on that scale to see an amazing 132.0lbs. For the first time in almost a year, I was back to my happy place.
Swim: I swam 11.3km which is the most I've swam in one months ever. Pretty lame, I KNOW, but I always tend to underestimate the swim which I promised I wouldn't do this year. My swims were never SUPER long, but I kept swimming consistently, which I'm proud of. Maybe helped kill 9 minutes off my last year's time.
Bike: I kept cycling consistently although my workouts were supposed to be shorter than previous months, so my mileage wasn't as crazy as previous months, but I still pedaled for 285 miles.
Run: Well, that's a whole different story. While this time last year I felt so sluggish when running, this year I felt strong and completed an amazing 74.25 miles over the course of the month with my last 4.5 mile run being one of my fastest runs in the past couple of years.
And now what? Well, I have a few other events coming up, so I will keep training and trying to stay on target with my weight goals. July is definitely a "rest" month with no races on my schedule, but I have the Boulder Half Ironman in August, the Colorado Relay early September, Denver Marathon late September and San Francisco Marathon in October. Gotta focus more on running starting the second week of August, and I am SO looking forward to it. Going back to my years of just running. Life was good (and certainly cheaper).
I leave you with a quick stat: Of the 180 Ironman training days, I worked out 144 days. Between sick days, sluggish days and just play time, I guess I missed a full month of training... I wonder what I'd be capable of if I trained 180/180 days.
Happy running. ;)
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