Kelly the Culinarian: About that 70.3 Training

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

About that 70.3 Training

I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past few days asking about how my training is going for the Racine 70.3 Half Ironman is going.
Training run in my new Oiselle gear
Response: “Awesome, I can’t wait!”

Reality: “I’m trying and hope it’s enough.”

We’re all busy people. I work full time, I’m married, I’ve got a dog and I have to commute all over the place often. There’s also this little race I’m working on, you might have heard about it, the Run for Boston5K, and we’re expecting 400 runners. They’re not the only ones who will have to hustle to make it work.

What I’m getting at is that like every other age grouper out there, I have competing priorities. In a given week, I probably end up dropping one workout from my training plan. I am hitting all the weekend distance workouts and have been consistent with getting my butt to CrossFit Endurance twice a week.
Eight miles done - in shorts!

Bottom line is that I know I can swim 1.2 miles, I’ve biked 60 miles before at Venus de Miles and I’ve completed a number of half marathons. The key is stringing it all together.

Last weekend, I had a glorious eight-mile lakefront run before our crepe class, then on Sunday, I rode my bike to Jenny’s house, which was just more than 40 miles. It was my first long ride outside and went relatively well, once I started getting moving. Starting and stopping was hard with clicking in, and I fell … twice.

It's a little safer inside on the trainer
You see, I only unclicked my bike shoes on one side at a stop light, then proceeded to fall to the other side. Good news? I fell on my ass instead of my elbow. Bad news? I fell onto a drain pipe cover, so I have a very distinctive bruise on my rear end.
Proof of a long ride

Awesome.

I believe my biggest limiting factors for Racine are my tummy troubles and my ability to string the sports together.  For the month of May, my goals are:
  • Track my food. It’s a pain in the ass, but as my experiment with Weight Watchers showed, it works. It’s the only way to hold myself accountable and figure out what’s bothering my stomach.
  • Weekly brick workouts. I don’t care if I run two miles off the bike, my body needs to acclimate to Swim then Bike then Run.
  • Spend more time clicking in and out of the bike to avoid more bruised ass incidents.
What are your goals for May? Does anyone ever feel truly ready to tackle 70.3 miles in a single sitting?

11 comments:

Zenaida Arroyo said...

I admire you. I have no desire whatsoever to complete a Half Ironman. :-)

Zenaida Arroyo said...

I admire you. I have no desire whatsoever to complete a Half Ironman. :-)

KellytheCulinarian said...

It all started with desire, though, and nothing more. I saw a video of an Ironman on YouTube and decided on the spot I wanted to finish it. I knew nothing about triathlon.

Losing Lindy said...

You are so awesome! I think it is great you rode 40 miles one way! I would do 5 miles back and forth, because I get scared. If you are wanting another way to ride towards work, let me know. I can drive you home ;)

Unknown said...

I think you should make a cameo in the next Ironman movie. Time for a woman to take the suit!

I've never thought about doing one for more than about 2 seconds as I'm not a strong swimmer.

You are doing a great job! Keep it up.

Kelly @ Running Kellometers said...

You are looking pretty sharp in your Oiselle gear, gotta say! :) I also have zero desire to ever do an Ironman race of any kind. More power to you! :)

Unknown said...

There ain't no sugar-coating it, 70.3 training is hard. (My apologies for the bad grammar but it just sounds better that way.)
I usually dropped at least one sessions when I was training as well. That plan will still get you to the finish line.
I read somewhere when I was first riding with clipless pedals that when you go to stop you should hug your opposite knee to the frame of your bike. I promise it gets better too!

Nicole and Scott Kesten said...

I have fallen too many times out of my clips.. one time i did it and the guy next to me (in his car) rolled down his window.. as he was laughing.. says.. "that was awesomely elegant... you ok?" we had a good laugh.

OK, let's do a swim/run soon!!!

Unknown said...

Wow, I'm super impressed! I don't think I will ever have the motivation to complete such a race! Good luck!!

Unknown said...

One step at a time! We'll get there!

karen said...

You are doing amazing!!!!! Everyone has doubts at this distance. You will do fine. Better than fine. You are stringing the run, bike, swim together by doing then back to back days so that is most of the battle.