Ironman Training Week 5 – Reality Check
Monday January 2 – Sunday January 8
Monday was my last day of my 2 week Christmas vacation, and Tuesday was a reality check when my alarm went off at 5:00am. This was the first week where my lack of sleep plus increased volume of workouts caught up with me. Friday I woke up feeling really “off”. I thought I was getting sick but didn’t have any real symptoms…I just felt like I was walking in a cloud. After work, I slept from 4-7pm, went to a birthday dinner, slept again from 1030pm-730am and then luckily woke up feeling much better! This put things into perspective. I really need to try to SLEEP more if I want to train at my full potential. Since sleep is something that I really need to focus on, I’m going to try to remember to record how many hours of sleep I get each night beginning next week. (I can already tell you I’m not doing that great!) Getting up to an average of 8 hours/night is going to take some serious work.
Monday: X2 Core
Jeremy and I wanted to try a P90X2 workout, so we did this 1 hour total body workout plus stretching. It was fun to change up our routine and workout in our living room together like we used to do when we first did P90X!
P90X2 from Beachbody!
Tuesday: 1 hour Spinervals (AM)
I’ve been using this DVD until Jeremy and I purchase the Sufferfest cycling videos. Nicole tells me they are intense and great for increasing power on the bike!
Wednesday: 45 minutes spin (AM)
4.5 mile run + 1 hr technique swim class at JCC (PM)
Swim. Bike. Run. I conquered all 3 this day, and no, that is not something you will find in my training plan unless it’s a race day. I decided to run right before swim class because I had 1 hour of free time. Looking back, it was probably unnecessary since I had a 9 mile run coming up 11 hours later. To top things off, I hardly got any sleep that night. I got home from swim around 9pm, made dinner, and got in bed by 10pm but I was too wound up to sleep. My neighbors were partying, so that did not equate to a good night’s sleep. I think this is when my burnout began.
Thursday: 9 mile run (AM)
45 min spin (PM)
My alarm went off at 4:45am, and I managed to drag myself out of bed for a run with Nicole. I didn’t feel as tired as I thought I would, and I had a good run. Everything caught up to me Thursday night, though. I came home so exhausted that I wanted to cry! Instead, I got on the bike for 45 minutes. I didn’t want to miss a workout, but I’m not sure if that was the right decision or not. It’s hard to know when to push through and when to let your body rest.
Friday: Rest!
This was when I woke up feeling borderline sick. I was so thankful for the rest day, and I slept a total of 12 hours that night.
Saturday: 18 mile long run
I woke up without any symptoms and decided it was OK for me to run. I’m glad I did because Nicole and I had an amazing run and we ran 18 miles at an 8:58 pace! This tells me that what my body really needed was rest, and I am so glad I finally listened to it. Later that day, a group of us celebrated Nicole’s birthday over drinks. Happy Birthday, Nicole!
Sunday: 40 mile bike + 3 mile run
I can tell that my recent increase in spinning on my bike has helped my long rides. The first time I did 40 miles, I was barely getting mid-week rides in and was always beat up by the end of a long ride. Now I feel great finishing 40 miles! This ride was encouraging because my mileage will only go up from here!
Have you ever thought you were sick but it was really just exhaustion? How do you know when to listen to your body and just REST?
San Diego Fitness Diva 
In my opinion rest and sleep are actually more important than the training volume. What benefit will you get from a long hard run if your body is already exhausted? None. More than likely this will further depress your immune system and then colds and flu’s will thrive, causing you to miss more training. Bad circle. I can speak from experience – I trained through a cold several years ago and then had to take 3 months away from training to recover!
I am interested to see your sleep report next week – I work 6am until 2pm then I train, so by the time I get home and eat at 3pm I’m ready for a nap. I am trying to avoid napping, so that I can get then get to bed early and have a good nights sleep.
Yes, I’m definitely beginning to recognize the importance of sleep. It’s nice that you have a set work schedule. I’m always in at 8, but my hours vary in length and I generally work 10-11 hours/day. Working out before and after that is what makes it challenging to get in bed at a decent hour.
What a week! I am glad that you are focusing more on sleep. I try to be IN bed by 9 pm, 9:30 at the latest now which is very different than a couple years ago when I was always in bed 10:30-11. But a couple of years ago I worked out 4-5 hours a week and now we will be working out 12-20 hours! I think a big part of the reason they say your social life suffers during Ironman isn’t necessarily the extra workout hours, it’s the extra sleep!
I agree! Getting in bed by 9pm is so tough after a long day at work and another workout, but I need to make it a priority so my training doesn’t suffer!
Well done on the training. It does take its toll, doesn’t it?
I’m a physio from New Zealand, on my last 8 weeks of training for the Taupo Ironman (IM NZ). I also have a blog where I post regular updates and training tips that i pick up along the way. Come and check it out if you’re interested 🙂
http://ironphysio.co.nz
All the best with your event!
Thank you! Good luck at Taupo! I’ll def take a look at your blog as well. I find it’s very helpful to pick up training tips from fellow bloggers.