Week 2 of 20 Ironman Training

Week 2 of Ironman training has come to a close. I got all my workouts in this week and I'm feeling good.  I'm eating good and I got the rest I needed this week. (Rest is essential!)

 

Best Sherpa ever has his "Race Face" on.

I ended this week of training on Saturday with the Pinehurst International triathlon. I thought this might be another rainy race weekend but it turned out beautiful. Pinehurst is a short distance from my home. So it's kind of like my hometown race. 

 

The setting for this race is kind of like something you'd see on a postcard. The swim starts on a white sandy beach. The water was a very chilly 72 degrees. Perfect for a wetsuit. I was able to get in the water before my swim wave and get acclimated to the water temperature. I haven't swam 1500 meters in quite some time. So I really just wanted to get out of the water in under 45 minutes. 

 

 

 

We took off and once I got my goggles situated right I got into a good rhythm. To my surprise I came out of the water in 38 minutes and change and I was pretty surprised and happy with that. The bike leg was longer than a normal international distance it was 29 and a half miles. There were some hills on the course that didn't seem very significant riding in the car but once I got through with the bike course my legs were trashed. I was so glad to get off that bike seat! 

 

 

Now just to run 6.2 miles. The hills around the lake were pretty significant for the run portion. My goal was to do the best I could.  I ran the flats and down the hills and I walked at a good pace up the hills. My competition was a faster swimmer than I was and an equal biker but I was able to pass her on the run portion and stay a little ahead the whole time. This was my slowest 10K to date at an hour and 18 minutes but I was doing all I could with those hills. I was happy to finish in under 4 hours as the time limit was four and a half hours. 

 

 

 

I really got a long bike and a long run in on the same day this weekend. On Sunday I was supposed to do a 15-minute run but I was really tired and I ended up walking the whole thing. I'm thinking about switching my long run to the mid-week next week so that I have a few days in between long run and long bike. Tomorrow starts week 3 of my 20 weeks and I'm looking forward to another week.