Ironman Training

Ironman training has begun, and the first item of business was to hire a coach! I went back and forth with whether or not I should get one, but after stressing about creating a schedule and talking to a few friends who did their first ironmans with and without coaches, I decided I needed to get one. And she lives in Texas which made my decision that much easier! She knows that I am sort of a problem child with all the travel I do for work and the fact that 90% of my rides are on a trainer, but she agreed to take me on anyway. I have been ramping up the swim/bike over the past few weeks, but this week is our fist official week together and let's just say I hope this week isnt an omen for things to come. I woke up sunday with an awful stomach virus that has left little in my stomach but the three bottles of gatorade I have had since saturday. I am going to attempt to eat dinner tonight and hope I am ok tomorrow. Good news is I am 5 lbs closer to racing weight than I was on saturday! Also, the dog woke up really sick on sunday too - odd. I am beginning to wonder if dogs can pass stuff on to people or vice versa because this is the 3rd time this has happened to me. I assume I will be better tomorrow to get back to training, and I hope I am 100% by Saturday because I am heading to Rio! I have three ocean swims on the schedule next week that will all be done here:

I am very excited to be back in a beach city! Even more exciting is that my visa actually arrived on time so I am legal to go to Brazil.

Oh and has anyone done one of these? Last week when I was at the pool I had someone ask me to join their team for a 4 hour swim. I said sure not really knowing what i was getting in to, but it turns out the 4 hour swim is really a 16 hour race where each person swims an hour and rests 3 until the 16 hours are up. The winning team is the team that goes the farthest. I have no idea who counts lengths of the pool (we are in trouble if I have to count my own laps), but I do know that swimming 4 hours in a pool has got to get a little boring. I am praying that this event is ipod legal so I can wear mine in the water to distract myself. I wonder if the real idea here is to find a team that can actually continue the event without bailing from sheer boredom before the 16 hours are up and they are declared the winner.

Cooking on a saturday

The pool here closes on Saturday from 10-1 and I wanted to watch the Germany vs Argentina game, so my run swim run is gonna be after 1 today. Once the game was over, I had a little time on my hands and decided to test out some home made Lara bars. Well I was hoping to use dates, but apparently my Spanish isnt perfect yet and I ended up using prunes.

When Chris asked what I was doing I showed him the bars and he said they looked like Liko's (our dogs) poo. Lovely image, but he does have a point. Hopefully they taste better than they look. After that I decided to test out a recipe that Beth had for gluten free muffins.
Actually I had Chris test out the recipe since I had to work a bit. We changed the recipe a little and used fresh blackberries instead of dried fruit and they were AWESOME! I scarfed down 4 (as you can see in the photo), and am hoping I can make them last at least until dessert tonight.
This weekend the goal is to start figuring out a training plan for the race. I know it is early, but I am starting from 0 swimming and need to build up for the next couple of months. The pool has a free masters class that I am going to start going to a few times a week, and I will try and get in a bike a week off trainer as well until I really start training. Good news is at least I have a solid running base. I am debating about getting a coach too (either here or virtually). More to come on all of this after I figure out what the hell I am doing.

Happy fourth of July and Happy flotilla-ing in Hawaii (my favorite day of the year there). I will be thinking about you all from my desk when I am working on Monday.

The only Triathlon on the calendar

Yesterday I found a pool! I cant tell you how excited I was. Granted, it is about $80 more a month than I am used to spending (which is $0) and it is a little far from the house, but my happiness here in Mexico depends on it. I am not me without swimming, and after 1.5 years with 1 swim, I am hoping to feel like me again. To celebrate I signed up for this.

Ahhh, this race is home for me, and I cant think of a better first ironman. I had a long talk with Chris before signing up about what it would take and that I wouldnt have time to do anything other than sleep, eat, train, and work. He already keeps the house in order now, but was totally on board with putting in any extra work I may need, and I love him for it. So that means from now until the real training starts, I have to put in some extra effort when and where I can. I also went through all of these emotions of can I actually do this?, it will most likely be my only triathlon between now and then, is that ok?, will I have time to train?, will I be able to find places to bike off the trainer?, and on and one. Until finally I sucked it up and signed up. This race is in Houston and my family, friends and Chris will be there to cheer me on, and I will give it my best. That is what this is all about right?