Bonking sucks!

Last Sunday I did a 1/2 IronMan simulation at the gym. I had planned on finishing it in 6 1/2 hours. I came close. I did it in 6 3/4 hours. I wasn’t “racing” by any means. You never want to race when you train. Rather, I had a goal pace in mind that I felt would be reasonable in relation to my goal finishing time in April. So what went right and what did I learn? I felt very good through the swim. I did the 1.2 miles in about 42 minutes. I wanted to finish in 45, so right on track. I wanted to maintain a 16 mph pace on the bike which for 56 miles would have me finishing in 3 1/2 hours. I was able to finish at exactly 3 1/2 hours, cool! On to the run. I usually have very good running legs after cycling. My legs felt great for the first hour or so. I maintained around a 10:00 min/ mile pace, which was my goal. So what happened about 6 miles in??? Simple, NUTRITION, or lack thereof. Bonk!!!! My legs felt ok, I just didn’t have any energy left. I brought 2- 64 oz bottles of Gatorade, 1 Power Bar and 2 of those Sweet and Salty peanut butter bars. It was not enough. The interesting thing is that the following day, I was not sore AT ALL. One of the purposes of training is to learn from your mistakes. I learned that nutrition will make or break my day in Arizona. Yes, I already know this, but sometimes I still need to be reminded just HOW important it is. You can have all the fitness down, but if there is no gas in the talk, you ain’t going nowhere.

I will do another 1/2 simulation in 2 weeks and apply what I learned. Friday, I swam, for the first time, the full iron distance swim. Well, actually 200 meters farther. I swam 4000, meters which is 80 laps in the pool or roughly 2.5 miles. What a relief! The swim has always been the intimidating part for me, so I am very relieved to at least know that I can complete it. Now, I will try to do some long distance workouts that are 4 or 500 meters farther to gain a mental advantage. It is crazy to remember 9 months ago, standing at the end of the pool after finishing 1/2 a lap, gasping for air wondering “how in the world am I EVER going to be able to do that 160 times” and “what did I get myself into”. That is why I am training and doing an Ironman. To remind myself everyday that NOTHING is impossible if you are specific about your goals, make a plan, work hard and most of all believe, you can achieve almost anything. I hate to get so corny, but it is true.

Sunday, Brittany and I will be running in the Surf City Marathon. It will be Brittany’s first full marathon. I am running the half. It should be a lot of fun!

Paul