Ironman Mont Tremblant Training: Fitting it All In

Just 9 weeks to go until I start my big day in Mont Tremblant!  I feel like I have managed to get most of the training in without huge sacrifices, but this past week was very tricky, especially after doing Challenge Quassy 70.3 last Sunday (read about race day Here ).
My rest day was Monday, which was great, but I woke up on Tuesday morning facing a 4400 yard swim and an hour bike ride feeling completely exhausted and more sore than I did on Monday.   Not to mention, I had about 300 emails to go through and 5 loads of laundry to catch up on!  I decided to creatively rearrange my training plan for the week so I could take Tuesday off as well. Unfortunately, my week unraveled a bit (actually a lot), but I managed to get in most of the training.  Here is what I ended up doing:

-Monday: Rest Day after Quassy

-Tuesday: Changed to Rest Day, as I was still feeling pretty beat up from all of those Hills!!

-Wednesday: 2400 Yard Open Water Swim at Crystal Lake, which I dreaded doing, as my arms were sore, but I felt so much better after doing it! Then, 1 Hour Recovery Ride, which also felt good!

  (After my Recovery Ride & realizing I left my Race Number on my Helmet!)

-Thursday: This was the only day that I could get my 16 mile run in…problem was that I had to work and my husband was out of town, making it tough to get in a chunk of time to do a long run.  So, I got up at 5am and ran 8 miles on the treadmill before getting the kids up for school.  I got them off, went to work and managed to get home in time to do 7.2 more miles before the bus showed up dropping the little ones off!  Not quite 16, but close enough & maybe a bonus point or two for effort!! 🙂

-Friday: Another day that I had to break up the training load to “fit it all in”.  I had an 80 mile ride and 4 mile run to complete.  I had initially planned to do it while the kids were at school.  However, my daughter’s field day was moved to Friday, which I was not going to miss!  So, I got on my bike trainer at 5:15 and rode 25 miles, then put my bike in the car with a cooler full of my drinks & fuel for the remaining 55 miles.  I got the kids up & ready & drove them to school.  I parked at the school and rode my bike 15 more miles until Field Day started at 10am, just 40 more miles to go at this point! I attended Field Day, which was so much fun!  All of the Kindergarten classes have a friendly competition against one another in various fun “track & field” activities! Here is a picture of my daughter:

This ended at noon, so I hopped on my bike and I was happy as I had just enough time to finish the ride and do the run before school was out.  It was a beautiful day and I was enjoying being outside biking.  I was also feeling proud of my organizational skills to get this workout all in!  I was at mile 58, when all of a sudden I heard a very loud “POP”, I quickly unclipped from my pedals and got off my bike.  My rear tire had blown out!  Ugh!!

I had everything I needed to change a flat, but this was a huge tear and I needed a New Tire!  Fortunately, a kind man stopped to help me and ended up bringing me back to my car.  At this point, I didn’t have time to go get the tire fixed, so I put my bike back on the trainer and rode a bit more.  I really wanted to get the run in as well, so I stopped riding in time to do that.  I ended up getting in 65 miles before running the 4 miles.  It was so frustrating, but I was happy that it happened Friday and not during my race last Sunday!

-Saturday: I had to work a 10 hour shift at the hospital, but I had planned on getting up at 4:45 to do a 7 mile run before going in to work.  However, my daughter woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible stomach bug and I spent the night with her in the bathroom.  I did not sleep at all and I felt so bad for her, as I had never seen her this sick before.  Fortunately, my husband was home to help as well.  I ended up heading in to work at 7am without any sleep at all, but they were short staffed and needed me to be there.  Half way through the day, I ended up getting sick and headed home to spend the next 24 hours on the couch.

-Sunday: I was still not feeling well and actually slept until 10:30am!  I still can’t believe I slept that long, but I think after a hectic week, cramming in Ironman training, then getting sick, my body had had enough!! I took it easy the rest of the day and tried to rehydrate.  By Sunday night, I was feeling a bit better, but went to bed again early as the week ahead is another busy one!

How was your training week?  How do you fit it all in when things don’t go as planned?