Well, its been a couple of weeks since my last post; a mixture of feelings at the moment but I think I am finally learning how to deal with the mental side of training for an Ironman. And when I say deal with, I mean learning how to HTFU & know that other people are also going through the same thing. I knew I would hit that dreaded motivation wall at some point, and if I think about the volume & intensity of training I've been doing (more than I have probably ever done in my life), I'm surprised it hasn't hit me sooner. I'm 12 weeks into my 16 week program & whilst I can't say I have enjoyed the feeling of fatigue & questioning myself as to what the hell I signed up for, I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by very supportive people, some of who know exactly how it feels. Its hard to comprehend the mental strength & focus it takes to train 6 days a week, sometimes 2-3 times a day, plus hours & hours on the weekends. Most people think its just plain crazy. I guess it is but I also know that the personal challenge will be worth it when I run down that finishing chute & Mike Reilly says, 'Belinda Fong - YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!' I hope he calls me The Fonginator. And that they play Johnny Farnham's Your The Voice or LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem. I figure if this is going to be my one & only Ironman, may as well make it the best experience ever, right?
Last week (week beginning 19/03/12) involved 9.5kms of swimming, 10.5hrs of riding and 4hrs of running. I fell short in distance on one of the swims, one of the rides & one of the runs. I was getting stressed about not having enough time to learn the latest releases for the new Body Attack & Body Pump (which I unfortunately couldn't delay as it was International Fitness Week & they were promoting the new music at the gym). I was also not getting enough sleep (my own fault) & was generally feeling tired & sore from all the training. I just felt like I had nothing left to give & it made me question whether or not I wanted to do Ironman, whether I would actually survive it & if I still had it in me to keep training. Sometimes, its so easy to beat yourself up about not giving 100% in training or just falling short of what you wanted to get out of it. But now I know I have been consistent & the distances I missed would be far outweighed by all the other training I have been doing. And we can't be on top of it all the time. Its just not possible.
I had two favourite sessions last week. One was with Tracy doing some fast loops on the bike along Military Rd-Ourimbah Rd-Ben Boyd Rd & back. It was like having my own personal trainer next to me! She pushed me more than I have ever pushed myself on the bike. It felt amazing! Then my good friend Jo (amazing massage therapist who works out of Fitness First Walker St) joined me for some 400m sprint efforts around North Sydney Oval. I thought I would hate doing repeats & my legs were pretty fatigued from the 25km run a couple of days before, but the body is a wonderful thing & just pushed through, Because of her, I managed to do all of them under 1.30, and my best time was 1.27. Nothing like a good sprint session to kickstart the endorphins for the day,
This week (week beginning 26/03/12) I was still feeling a bit flat but determined to get through it, so the intensity wasn't as high as I have been doing, but I made it through most of the sessions ok. In the last 6 days, I had to do 8kms of swimming, 240km of cycling & 50km of running - my biggest week of the whole program. I did my longest run ever on Wednesday - 25km. Prior to this, I had only ever run a half marathon. My coach's husband Todd (freak runner) was in Sydney so he ran with me for the first 12km. The last 13km was very slow, with a few stops too. I came home feeling exhausted & wondering how I was ever going to get through 42kms. Thank you to all of those who sent me messages of support & encouragement that day. It was not one of my finest moments but its amazing how someone's comments can lift you up when you really need it (thanks Laura Siddall).
The mega session was today though (Sunday); a 140km ride with a 12km run off the bike. I rode with BTC members Joe, Mary, Kate, Tracy & Toni. We started towards Epping to the M2 but because of all the road works, we had to cross some very dodgy freeways & lift our bikes over sandbags & concrete walls to get to the cycleway which ended quite abruptly along a stretch of road where cars were zooming down at 80km/hr. Death Road I liked to call it. I have to admit, although it was a bit dangerous, I was laughing quite a bit, mainly due to our poor sense of direction as to where the M2 actually was (cyclists have to go a different way to cars). My first off-road adventure on a road bike! Instead of going along the M7 as we had originally planned, we turned off & headed towards Berowra to do Pie in the Sky. My cleats were also playing up & there was lots of swearing when I couldn't get any momentum after the traffic lights went green. Just embarrassing. On the way back up from Pie, Mary got two flats & Toni's chain dropped! More fun times! By that stage, the sun was extremely hot. Toni & I rode back via Pacific Hwy from Hornsby to North Sydney (another death trap) but by the time we got back, I still had to do another 13km! Damn! So I ended up going out to Mosman on my own & around Kirrbilli until my Garmin said 140kms!
Following the 140km ride, I downed some electrolyte & the remainder of my vegemite sandwich & headed out with Toni's husband Peter who volunteered to run the 12kms with me. We ran out to Darling Harbour & I stupidly didn't take any water or gels. So there were a few water stops along the way. Lesson learnt! I really need to invest in one of those fuel belts before race day. Peter had to stop because he had done something to his leg so I went off on my own with his permission & managed to make it back home in 65 mins. Stoked. It was so hot & my legs were tired but I felt pretty good. As soon as I got home, I sat on the floor with bags of ice on my legs, then had a massive lunch, bath & a power nap. I still cannot believe I left home at 6am, got home at 2.45pm & trained the ENTIRE time. That's pretty mental.
One more week of intensity (thankfully not as crazy as this week has been), where I will proceed to eat my weight in Easter eggs before Sydney ITU on 15th April. Cannot wait to race again then another 3 weeks til I become an Ironman!
A huge thank you to everyone who has been so supportive this week in helping me train. And apologies to my family & friends who I have neglected over the past 4 months. I promise I will be back to normal after 6th May!
On a more serious note, there were a couple of serious bike accidents this weekend, so I encourage all you riders to stay safe & try to go out with others when you can. And if you're a motorist, please be aware of us on the road. Waiting a few extra seconds isn't going to kill you, but your impatience may hurt us. Its a lot easier for a car to stop than a bike. Please be kind to those of us who obey the rules & just need to train.
Until next week, thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share the Fonginator love.
Bel
Last week (week beginning 19/03/12) involved 9.5kms of swimming, 10.5hrs of riding and 4hrs of running. I fell short in distance on one of the swims, one of the rides & one of the runs. I was getting stressed about not having enough time to learn the latest releases for the new Body Attack & Body Pump (which I unfortunately couldn't delay as it was International Fitness Week & they were promoting the new music at the gym). I was also not getting enough sleep (my own fault) & was generally feeling tired & sore from all the training. I just felt like I had nothing left to give & it made me question whether or not I wanted to do Ironman, whether I would actually survive it & if I still had it in me to keep training. Sometimes, its so easy to beat yourself up about not giving 100% in training or just falling short of what you wanted to get out of it. But now I know I have been consistent & the distances I missed would be far outweighed by all the other training I have been doing. And we can't be on top of it all the time. Its just not possible.
I had two favourite sessions last week. One was with Tracy doing some fast loops on the bike along Military Rd-Ourimbah Rd-Ben Boyd Rd & back. It was like having my own personal trainer next to me! She pushed me more than I have ever pushed myself on the bike. It felt amazing! Then my good friend Jo (amazing massage therapist who works out of Fitness First Walker St) joined me for some 400m sprint efforts around North Sydney Oval. I thought I would hate doing repeats & my legs were pretty fatigued from the 25km run a couple of days before, but the body is a wonderful thing & just pushed through, Because of her, I managed to do all of them under 1.30, and my best time was 1.27. Nothing like a good sprint session to kickstart the endorphins for the day,
This week (week beginning 26/03/12) I was still feeling a bit flat but determined to get through it, so the intensity wasn't as high as I have been doing, but I made it through most of the sessions ok. In the last 6 days, I had to do 8kms of swimming, 240km of cycling & 50km of running - my biggest week of the whole program. I did my longest run ever on Wednesday - 25km. Prior to this, I had only ever run a half marathon. My coach's husband Todd (freak runner) was in Sydney so he ran with me for the first 12km. The last 13km was very slow, with a few stops too. I came home feeling exhausted & wondering how I was ever going to get through 42kms. Thank you to all of those who sent me messages of support & encouragement that day. It was not one of my finest moments but its amazing how someone's comments can lift you up when you really need it (thanks Laura Siddall).
The mega session was today though (Sunday); a 140km ride with a 12km run off the bike. I rode with BTC members Joe, Mary, Kate, Tracy & Toni. We started towards Epping to the M2 but because of all the road works, we had to cross some very dodgy freeways & lift our bikes over sandbags & concrete walls to get to the cycleway which ended quite abruptly along a stretch of road where cars were zooming down at 80km/hr. Death Road I liked to call it. I have to admit, although it was a bit dangerous, I was laughing quite a bit, mainly due to our poor sense of direction as to where the M2 actually was (cyclists have to go a different way to cars). My first off-road adventure on a road bike! Instead of going along the M7 as we had originally planned, we turned off & headed towards Berowra to do Pie in the Sky. My cleats were also playing up & there was lots of swearing when I couldn't get any momentum after the traffic lights went green. Just embarrassing. On the way back up from Pie, Mary got two flats & Toni's chain dropped! More fun times! By that stage, the sun was extremely hot. Toni & I rode back via Pacific Hwy from Hornsby to North Sydney (another death trap) but by the time we got back, I still had to do another 13km! Damn! So I ended up going out to Mosman on my own & around Kirrbilli until my Garmin said 140kms!
Following the 140km ride, I downed some electrolyte & the remainder of my vegemite sandwich & headed out with Toni's husband Peter who volunteered to run the 12kms with me. We ran out to Darling Harbour & I stupidly didn't take any water or gels. So there were a few water stops along the way. Lesson learnt! I really need to invest in one of those fuel belts before race day. Peter had to stop because he had done something to his leg so I went off on my own with his permission & managed to make it back home in 65 mins. Stoked. It was so hot & my legs were tired but I felt pretty good. As soon as I got home, I sat on the floor with bags of ice on my legs, then had a massive lunch, bath & a power nap. I still cannot believe I left home at 6am, got home at 2.45pm & trained the ENTIRE time. That's pretty mental.
One more week of intensity (thankfully not as crazy as this week has been), where I will proceed to eat my weight in Easter eggs before Sydney ITU on 15th April. Cannot wait to race again then another 3 weeks til I become an Ironman!
A huge thank you to everyone who has been so supportive this week in helping me train. And apologies to my family & friends who I have neglected over the past 4 months. I promise I will be back to normal after 6th May!
On a more serious note, there were a couple of serious bike accidents this weekend, so I encourage all you riders to stay safe & try to go out with others when you can. And if you're a motorist, please be aware of us on the road. Waiting a few extra seconds isn't going to kill you, but your impatience may hurt us. Its a lot easier for a car to stop than a bike. Please be kind to those of us who obey the rules & just need to train.
Until next week, thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to share the Fonginator love.
Bel
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