Ironman Training: Finding Motivation
It's been a few weeks again since I have been able to find a slice of time to write about Ironman training. I am going to blame that on the fact that I am indeed Ironman training and time is precious. Each week I have a post written in my head, but by the time I sit down to write it, another week has gone by. I have finally accepted that my grand plan of weekly updates will most likely not happen, but they will be more sporadic in nature.
The one thing that I have really been struggling with is motivation. I am not quite sure why, but it really bogged me down in January. I think it is in part because my training got off to a rocky start and I have felt behind. I finally reached out to my coach to admit this to her, which she had already suspected that this was troubling me. Her advice? It is 6 months until Ironman Lake Placid and I need a solid 6 months of training for the race. Forget the past and move on. So, that is just what I have been trying to do for the past 2 weeks! I have been hitting all of my scheduled training and working as hard as I can.
Something else I did to help get my butt in gear was sign up for a Half Ironman in June to give me a shorter term goal to work toward. The original Half that I had planned to sign up for was sold out, so I searched for another race that was close enough to drive to for the weekend. The only one that fit the order was Rev 3 Quassy 70.3. I am not going to lie, this race scares the hell out of me! I did it in 2015 when I was training for Ironman Mont Tremblant and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The bike course is extremely hilly with around 4,000 feet of elevation over the 56 miles. I found the run to be equally as tough with over 1,000 feet of elevation for the half marathon portion of the race. I actually cried at one point on the bike course, but by the time I got to the run, I laughed at the hills as it was one right after another. In fact, one of the hills was so steep that it was quicker to walk up it. The one thing I can say is that when I finished that race, I felt like I could conquer the world(Read about that day HERE). Signing up for this event has given me a new found motivation It's like knowing how hard a test is going to be so you're scared into studying every day for it so you don't fail.
Back to my training… So this past week was a little tricky as we had a 2 snow storms causing school to be cancelled on 2 days, but I managed to get everything in, except one swim. The toughest thing was doing my 9 mile run on the treadmill. I have done a lot of running on the treadmill over the years, but this winter it has challenged me mentally more than ever. I decided to break the run up into 3-3 mile segments, which helped me get through it.
This is what the week looked like:
Sunday: 1 hour Recovery Ride + 20 minutes of Core Work
Monday: 45 minute run
Tuesday: 2 hour trainer ride, followed by 15 minute run
Wednesday: 1 hour recovery ride
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Thursday: Unplanned rest day (But lots of snow shoveling...Strength Training!)
Friday: 1 hour interal trainer ride, 2,500 yard swim
Saturday: 9 mile run on treadmill + 20 minutes of Core Work
How was your week? Have you ever struggled with motivation? How do you keep yourself motivated? Do you have any tips for long treadmill runs? Thanks so much for stopping by! As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
Have a Great Week!
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