The Post Where I Can't Really Count that High

So training officially begins next week on Monday, February 24 -- 36 weeks out from the race. Everything fitness-wise I've been doing up until now (which honestly, due to life and other responsibilities, hasn't been very much -- mostly core strengthening, swim technique, and basic bike awareness) has just been extra.

This week I finally pinned down my training plan. It's a hybrid born out of the free TriFuel Supercoach triathlon program, some input from a local triathlon coaching team, and Don Fink's IronFit plan (as found in his book Be Iron Fit).

I go into my training fairly confident in my running and swimming abilities. Swimming... well, I grew up in South Florida, where they basically throw you in a pool a couple weeks after you're born, and you never get out again. I've also been a pretty avid scuba diver over the years. So even though I had to work on technique (in my swim clinic), I am not overly-worried about the swim.

The same is true about the run. I've been running for four years. I've completed two marathons (see that write-up here), and multiple Ragnar Relays (200-miles split between a team of 6 or 12 -- my most recent one here). Don't get me wrong: I'm not fast. I'm never going to be fast. But I know how to run.

But cycling. Heaven have mercy. I've never been a big fan of cycling. It's all new to me and it's all a challenge. December was Month O' the Bike for me to just get me accustomed to being on Shane West all the time.

Taking the above factors into account, I've made my IMFL Training Plan. You can see the overall mileage chart (actually really more of a duration chart) in the link near the top "My Mileage Chart".

But here's where I got a wee-bit worried:

 

The totals.  By the time November 1st rolls around in 36 weeks I will have spent over 90 hours swimming, 182 hours biking and 138 hours running. For a total of  410 hours.

(I told Capt Awesome that number and he just walked out of the room shaking his head muttering, "Just wake me when it's over...")

Btw, those numbers don't include the IM race itself, the Half Iron or other triathlon races I have scheduled this spring and summer.

This training plan is in time rather than distance (except for the swim part), which is new to me. I've always trained distance-based, but based on multiple areas of input I'm going to try this. I'll keep you posted.

But HOLY CRAP: 410 hours???? The equivalent of 10 weeks in a full time job.

Just wake ME when it's over.

The Post Where I Do One of the Things I Swore I Wouldn't Do

Okay, I'll just go ahead and admit it. I got all my hair cut off. And 85% of the decision came because of my IM training.

I had super long hair that I've been growing out for about three years. But honestly, lately it has looked like this most of the time:

When I signed up for IMFL, I promised myself I would not cut my hair just for the sake of training convenience. That promise lasted less than two months.

The effort to make my hair look nice was more than the time I had available to do it. So, when I found myself saying "You know, I just straightened my hair this morning (which took two hours), so I'm not going to work out today. Or tomorrow" -- I knew something needed to change.

Let's face it, when you're swimming 3-4 times a week and running and/or biking about the same amount of times, there's not a whole lot of time left over for hair styling.When Captain Awesome saw me attempting to tuck that mass of hair under a swim cap one day, he also encouraged me to get it cut.

So I did.  The result:

It's pretty, but I already miss my long hair. I'm not worried about it. It'll grow back. And it already takes 1/4 the time to style it as it used to.

Most importantly, I don't hesitate to jump in the pool for a 30 minute swim because it will mess up my hair. That sort of stuff is for girls.

The Post Where Janie Becomes Intimately Acquainted With Shane West

December has been the month o' the bike for Geek. For all of December I tried to get on the bike for 10 miles every other day. Not really to improve my cycling fitness, but to get my butt accustomed to being on the bike.

A pain in my @ss -- figuratively and literally.

I bought my bike in November, immediately after registering for IMFL. I wanted to get it as soon as possible knowing the bike would be my nemesis. (Putting over a hundred miles on it this month has just reinforced that opinion).

I did a lot of research, got some experienced tri-ers to help me out, and decided to buy a road bike rather than a tri-bike. It was much less expensive, and since I plan to only do one Ironman I didn't want to put thousands of dollars in that one purchase.

So I ended up buying a carbon frame road bike. I outfitted it with aerobars, got clipless shoes & pedals, and a trainer (for riding indoors).  All for the bargain price of about $1700. (Actually that really is a bargain. Distance triathlons are not an inexpensive sport.)

So here's my bike:

Don't have my clip-on shoes, so no actual riding.

 What I like most about it is that it is so light I can lift it with one hand:

It really is amazingly light

But what does all of this have to do with Shane West?

In case you don't know (shame on you!), Shane West is a gorgeous actor, currently staring in the newest version of Nikita.  He's my writing muse -- the character I have in my head when I write my romantic suspense novels. 

Hottie Hot-Hot - Shane West

 I heart Shane West so much. 

And I've decided to name my bike Shane West. Because if I'm going to ride thousands of miles over the next 10 months, I'd like to be able to say really inappropriate things like:

I hopped on Shane West and took him for a nice ride today.
Shane West has made me sore in some pretty unmentionable places.
I spent three hours on Shane West this morning.

I'm already thrilled at the thought of it. Um, being able to say those things, not ride all those miles (about 3000miles are in my current training plan)

So here's to Shane West -- may we always be good to each other.