Ironman Training Weeks 17 & 18 – My 1st Half Ironman!

The last two weeks revolved around my first 70.3.  I spent one week tapering for it, and one week recovering from it, and I loved every minute of it.  I took full advantage of my recovery week because I knew I would never have a week that easy again until after my full Ironman.  I’m prepared to enter full beast mode!

I DID IT! (Time reflects pros start.)

Week 17: Tapering for my first Half Ironman!
Monday: Swim lesson with Coach Trevor.  He isn’t technically my triathlon coach since I don’t get full training plans from him, but I go to a lot of his workouts, and I do private swim lessons with him…So at the very least, Trevor is my swim coach and it has been working out great!

Tuesday: Bike/run brick with Trevor, and Solana Beach Masters Swim.  My workouts were geared towards Oceanside 70.3 participants, and both were about 45 minutes long.  My masters swim had very specific drills, and my spin was pretty easy with some sprints to keep my legs fresh.  It was fun talking with the other Oceanside 70.3 participants.  I expressed my concern about getting a flat tire and found out that everyone else had the same concern. Refreshing! (They could probably all change a tire, though, if it actually came down to it.)

Wednesday: Run 4×90 seconds at race pace with easy jog in between for 20 minutes. Running for only 20 minutes feels weird.

Thursday: Rest! Pack and prep for the race!

Friday: Nicole and I went on a 20 minute bike ride + 10 minute easy run to stay warm before the race.  I don’t know if I’ll ever do that short of a workout again!  I wore my race day gear, but don’t worry, it didn’t get sweaty.

Saturday: RACE DAY! 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

Sunday: Rest (I should have done an active recovery exercise like swimming laps, but I had absolutely no desire to workout.) I couldn’t sleep in, so I started blogging about my race day experience, and then Jeremy, his mom, and I went to brunch. Then we had a nice late lunch at my parents’ place. A very relaxing Sunday for a change!

My adorable niece, Kiva

Week 18: Recovering from my first Half Ironman!
Monday – Tuesday: Zip. Zilch. Nada. I should have done at least an easy recovery swim, but I still had no desire to workout.  I was starting to wonder if I had burned out and if I was going to want to get back into Ironman training.

Wednesday: 3 mile easy run with Nicole. My legs were a little sore and felt a little pain while running, so I’m not sure if this was the best recovery exercise for me to do, but it was the only thing that I actually WANTED to do, so I went with it.

Thursday: Nothing again 🙂

Friday: Swim lesson with Trevor

Saturday: 62 mile bike + 30 minute run (Not exactly recovery, but I was ready to start to pick-up where Ironman training left off.  I took it easy on this ride.)

Sunday: 8 mile run (Ditto)

I’m already into week 19 now, and I’m happy to report that working out 2x/day again feels totally normal.  I’m back in full beast mode for my Ironman!  Coeur d’Alene is only 10 weeks away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CDA mass swim start. I think I'll start in the back...