What this week's scheduled training looked like (April 7-13):
Total hours scheduled: 7:00
Total hours logged: 7:00
Total running miles this week/total: 12.79 / 92.89
Total biking miles this week/total: 43.50 /248.18
Total swimming yards this week/total: 5000 / 40,000
Weight: x-1 (same. always the same) A friend suggest that I might want to measure inches lost instead of weight lost. Might think about that.
Level of IM enthusiasm: 9/10. This is "real" week #1, baby! (see "other" section below)
Nutrition elements: Used UCan again before my 1:45 bike ride. I want to like this stuff (because if I can do a 2+ hour workout using only one 100ish calorie packet that contains no sugar than I AM IN!), but still am not convinced that it really works. If you're used to working with gels/shot bloks -- you know that feeling you get just as your system is starting to tell you it's time for another one? That first moment of weakness/hunger/whatever you want to call it? That feeling where you know if you don't get another gel/blok inside you soon things will be pretty ugly a mile or so from now?
It's not ugly yet, but you can glimpse it. ...That feeling?
After using UCan I constantly have that feeling, like I need more in my tank or I'll be in trouble soon. But then it never gets any worse, and the trouble never actually comes (in these 2 hour workouts). So it's kind of annoying the whole time, but never becomes any more critical. I don't know if the UCan is working and that I'm so used to a sugar high & crash from gels that I need to adjust to a more even release of carbs, or if it's all just hype and I'm tricking my own brain.
If it was just these issues, I would probably give it a couple month run and see how it plays out. But the stuff tastes like flavored chalk. No kidding. I have the new Orange-crap flavor and the Pomegranate/blueberry-crap. The Orange-crap is almost drinkable but the Pomegranate-crap is beyond gross.
Overall consensus after writing this: I will give it a couple more weeks and also order a couple more different flavors to try. After that, if I'm still not convinced, I'm moving on.
Other: After of two weeks of my debut novel release shenanigans and vacation where training was pushed in wherever I could find time, I was ready to get back to the IM grind. And perfect timing because we are 30 weeks out. This is where the training plan I am using (Don Finks' Iron Fit) actually starts. The last six weeks were just extra (that I wish I had used doing something other than running, biking and swimming. Like crossfit or Zumba. Hindsight 20/20...)
So this is it. I will be, as much as possible, following this plan down to the letter (see the Training Calendar above it you want to know what this involves each week). I am choosing to believe if I put all the hours into the training involved in this plan, it will pay off with a successful Ironman Florida race come November.
Of course, I'm leaving myself room for changes that will have to be made because of life (family, travel, illness). But otherwise this training will be happening almost every day of every week for the next 30 weeks. 7 1/2 months.
Sweat is for those who know that winning is a choice, not an accident. Welcome to the grind.
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