Tag: Week 26

By My Own Choosing

2021 IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA TRAINING

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WEEK 26 – August 29, 2021 

My coworkers are kind people and take a passing interest in what I do outside of work. As I train for my fifth Ironman, it’s pretty obvious at this point that my weekend will be filled with a long bike ride and a long run. This weekend would be no different, but the kicker is that it was going to be hot outside, with temperatures in the 90s. So when my coworker Tracy asked what I was doing this weekend I replied that I was biking for 5.5 hours and running for an hour on Saturday, and running for 2.75 hours on Sunday, with somewhat of a “not too excited to do this” tone in my voice.

Then Tracy went full mom mode – YOU KNOW YOU ARE DOING THAT AT YOUR OWN CHOOSING. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT!

I closed my eyes and shook my head. I almost felt like I was being scolded for doing the things I like to do. Yes, I know that I choose to train for an Ironman, and yes I know that it is hard sometimes, and yes I know that you mere mortals find it somewhat perplexing as to why any of us training for an Ironman would put ourselves through such miserable efforts and give away our weekends doing it. But I choose to do it because I like riding and running (swimming, not so much), and being an Ironman is a goal that I pursue because it empowers me. It changed my life.

Later that evening my family and I met my son Ben and “kind-of daughter-in-law” Emily (just get married already!!!) for a birthday dinner for Ben and I mentioned once again that I was dreading doing my long bike and run this weekend. And although Emily didn’t chastise me as harshly as Tracy did, she said the same damn thing – You know, you choose to do it – or something to that effect.

This time I chuckled, hearing the same admonishment twice in a single day, but what was surprising was that it was coming from Emily, who as a runner herself knows full well what it takes to do amazing things. Maybe the empathy I was expecting and didn’t get was the amusing part for me.

Oh well, I guess nobody cares that I choose to do this dumb sport in an extreme way on a very hot two weekend days. And sometimes the only person to impress worth impressing is me.

Another good ride with Susan on Saturday, and it was pretty much a repeat of last weekend except we both decided to add a little extra, and instead of doing the planned 5.5-hour ride, I ended up doing 6.25 hours and reached 100 miles. I followed up the ride with 6-miles on the treadmill because, well, I’m not dumb. It was insanely warm and humid outside. Smart move and I felt great after that long day.

On Sunday, I parlayed the success of Saturday into Sunday, adding some extra time to the run, running an extra 15 minutes to hit 3-hours. I’m still playing around with a run\walk ratio, and I added 15-seconds to the walk interval. I think that is a pretty good option right now, and I will keep toying with it on my long runs.

On to the dreaded Week 27, which won’t be so dreadful because I pretty much did that week’s workout this weekend. Getting closer to race day and feeling more ready every day.

Swims: 2 – 3000 yards

Rides: 3 – 146 miles

Runs: 5 – 42.3 miles

Do You Want A Nutty Bar?

IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

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WEEK 26 – Monday 8/26/2019 – Sunday 9/1/2019

Dave came to join me for the Saturday long ride, a planned 5.5-hour ride with an hour-long brick run right after.  As he was getting ready I saw that he was doing a little pre-ride carb-loading with what looked like a Little Debbie Nutty Bar.

“Is that a Nutty Bar?” I asked.  “Yeah, do you want one?”

Do I want one?  That’s like offering a junkie a fix.  That’s like asking a dog if he wants a bone.  That’s like asking a fisherman if he wants to go fishing.  That’s like asking…  well, you get the point.  At one time I was addicted to the dang things.  I would buy a box weekly and have one for my mid-afternoon snack.  When I go on car trips and stop for gas, the snack I look for is a Nutty Bar or a Payday if the gas station is dumb enough to not stock Nutty Bars.

So back to the question – did I want one?  You bet I did.  But seeing that I had just eaten breakfast and also was dealing with a pre-ride nervous stomach, I didn’t want to chance eating one and regret my decision.  So I very reluctantly took a pass.

 

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Little Debbie and her Nutty Bars sponsor Ironman Chattanooga.

 

So onward we rode heading south and west on the route I take because it’s the safest and best riding from where I live, but that can be an issue if the wind is not in your favor.  We could tell that the wind was going to be in our faces coming back as we rode out with ease.  But as we turned around, it didn’t seem to be too much of a struggle.

 

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Dave complying with my mandatory selfie.

 

 

At the turn around we filled up our water bottles and Dave texted his brother John that we would swing by his house to pick him up.  John had done Wisconsin and Lake Placid with us, but his growing little family has now taken priority in his life.  So we were looking forward to riding with him.

We finally got to his place and I could see he was having some issues with his bike.  He showed us his chain and it looked like he had tied the chain in two knots.  Quite a head-scratcher for sure, but we got it sorted out and hit the trail for home.  When we got to downtown Frankfort, this younger guy on a mountain bike asked as we passed if he could join us.  I don’t think any of us said yes to him, but he grabbed on to us as we were trying to meander our way back through Frankfort that was extremely busy with the annual Labor Day Fall Fest.  Dave and John both rode up and told me that this guy was behind us, so I pushed the pace and tried some different routes to see if we could drop him or get him to get bored with us, but he hung on.  We finally got close to my house and stopped and told the guy the ride was over.  I guess that was all it took and he said he’d ride around Mokena for awhile.  I got to hand it to him, he kept up with us at times doing 25 mph or so on a mountain bike.

 

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John opted out of the run, so we snapped another mandatory selfie before Dave and I started the run.

 

The run went well and we both came back ready to be done with the day.  I offered Dave the opportunity to jump in the pool for a cool down, but he declined.  He loaded up his gear in the car and we said our goodbyes.  As I walked away, he said: “Hey, do you want a Nutty Bar?”  I reluctantly declined again, this time with a chuckle.  I didn’t think a Nutty Bar sitting in a warm car would be very tasty, and I kind of wanted some real food so once again I reluctantly passed.

They better have Nutty Bars at the finish line of Ironman Chattanooga.

 

WEEK 26 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 1 total, 2800 total yards

Rides: 3 total, 131 total miles

Runs: 5 total, 45 total miles

 

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The Dreaded Week 27 is looming…