Kelly the Culinarian: Motivation Monday: Alyssa's Racine 70.3 Ironman Story

Monday, April 1, 2013

Motivation Monday: Alyssa's Racine 70.3 Ironman Story

Hi readers! It's Monday again, which means all sorts of work things, but also that it's time to revisit Motivation Monday. I have another awesome blogging buddy who has agreed to share her story. Meet Alyssa, a 24-year-old Racine 70.3 Ironman finisher who blogs over at Don't Look Down. Here's her journey to the finish line.


Athletic background: I grew up playing sports and being active.  In high school, I played softball, basketball, golf and volleyball.  I dabbled a little bit in running in high school and in the first few years of college, but it wasn't until my senior year of college that I really started getting into running with my friend Laura.  We completed our first triathlon that summer. 
 
Why did you sign up for Racine?: I wanted to challenge myself to a new distance and Racine was the closest Ironman sponsored race.

How did you train for Racine?:  I found a training plan online and tried to follow that.  I did about three sessions of each sport (swim, bike, run) each week.   Saturday was typically a long run of 8 to 12 miles and Sunday was a long bike day of 40 to 60 miles.  

What was the hardest part of training?:  Fitting all the sessions in each week.  Training can take up a lot of hours then add in a 40+ hour work week and there isn't much time for anything else. It felt like my home was always a mess and I never had any time to cook. During recovery weeks, I spent a lot of time catching up on tasks I had put off during busy training weeks. 

Also balancing my training with family and friend time was challenging.  I live about 3.5 hours for my family and my boyfriend so I travel back to Iowa at least once a month.  Since I don't get to spend much time with them, I had a difficult time convincing myself to leave for a 2- to 3-hour training session instead of golfing with my dad or shopping with my mom.  My boyfriend didn't appreciate when I wanted to go to bed 11 p.m. (Kelly's note: this would be late for me. I'm so old.) so I could get up early to train and he wanted to stay out with his friends.

What was the hardest part of the race?:  The heat of the run was killer.  I do think training in the heat helped and knowing that it was going to be hot helped me mentally.  

What would you do differently, in training and on race day?: I wish I would have practiced fueling better during training.  I didn't have any race day catastrophes, but I wish I would have had a better plan on what to eat and how often.

Any words of wisdom to share with an incredibly scared newbie?:  When it comes to race day, remind yourself that you've already completed the hard part (the training) and the race is the easy part.  

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for having me as a guest poster!
p.s. Would you be interested in meeting up for a run or bike sometime?

KellytheCulinarian said...

That would be awesome! I know you're nearby. I'm on the hunt for a place to pick up bike mileage, if you know of any.

Kim said...

I think it's so awesome that Alyssa has done a half IM and at such a young age! :) I applaud those who have these crazy awesome training schedules. It must get even crazier for a full.

I would worry about the heat too. Ugh. Midwest in July?! Yikes!