Ironman Training: Moving Right Along

My Ironman training has been full of ups and downs, missed workouts and bad ones. However, last week was really a nice and steady one, I finally seem to be Moving Right Along! The highlights of my week were hitting some of the longest distances I have done in some time, including a: 13 mile run, 47 mile ride, and 2 mile swim!

Here is how the week played out:

Monday: Rest Day/Work Day!

Tuesday: 13 mile run…Check! I have to admit that I was nervous about how this run would go. My running has not been where I would like it to be and this was the longest run I had done since last Summer. However, once I got moving and settled in to the mindset of running long, it went fairly smoothly, with the exception of my pit stop in the woods at mile 10 :-)s

Wednesday: 2,200 yard swim. This was supposed to be 2,500 yards, but I got kicked out of the pool for after school swim lessons! Oh well, I did my best to get it in. The swim felt good and it helped my sore legs as well! I did strength training later that evening.

Thursday: I had a 1 hour interval ride on my schedule after my day at work, but my legs were still quite sore from my long run on Tuesday, so I opted to do a 1 hour Recovery Ride instead. I followed that with a slow and steady 4 mile jog on the treadmill.

Friday: 3 hour trainer ride. My plan was to get up at 5 am and ride for 2 hours before getting the kids up and off to school.  I would finish the last hour after they were gone and start to tackle my Mt. Everest To Do List! However, I realized Thursday night that I had signed up for volunteer time at my daughter’s school first thing Friday morning. So, after making a million and one excuses why my trainer ride was not going to happen that day, I got on my bike at 11am  and began pedaling! I virtually rode the Ironman Lake Placid course and got in 47 miles over the 3 hours.  I worked as hard as I could on the course. It is definitely a tough one! The first 12-13 miles are hilly, then the middle part of the loop is pretty flat with some rollers. The part that is the real challenge is the last 15 miles of the loop where it is near continuous climbing. I worked hard and got my average watts up higher than they have been for an endurance ride in a year! When I finished, I hopped on the treadmill for a 15 minute transition run, which felt great! At this point, I had 20 minutes to shower and get to the school to pick up my minions. I made it (a few minutes late) and then we were off to their gymnastics class for the next 2 hours…BUSY Day!!!

Saturday: I got up at 5:30 am and headed to the pool. I was in the waterl by 6:30 am and swam 2 miles. I had not swam this long of a distance in some time, at least a year. I had a hard tie wrapping my mind around doing all the intervals, so I just hopped in and started swimming. I did 2,100 yards straight, which was helpful for me to get sense of my speed for that distance for my upcoming 70.3 in June. After I finished the 2,100 yards, I did 3x 1,500 yards. My arms were heavy and sore during the last 500 yards, but I was thrilled to have complete that distance with trouble! It was definite a confidence booster!

Sunday: I had moved my interval trainer ride and 5 mile run from earlier this week to Sunday. However, it was a beautiful day and with snow still on the ground, I blew them both off and went skiing with my family! We skied hard all day and I have no regrets, as it was some excellent cross-training!

Here are a few other things I have been up to:

I tried out the brand new Reebok Harmony Road Shoes and LOVED them! Check out my review of them

I also discovered an awesome new protein powder: Quest Cinnamon Crunch flavor! I have been using it in smoothies and smoothie bowls. Check out the recipe for my Cinnamon Banana Apple Smoothie Bowl .

I liked the Quest Protein Powder so much that I decided to check out some of there protein bars as well. I found them at my local GNC inside the Rite Aid Store. I like all the flavors and so do my kids, so I have a secret stash of them now!

How was your week? What is your favorite form of cross training? Do you have any big races on deck? As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a Great Week!

I am linking up with: Eat, Pray, Run DC &