The Build is on and surprisingly, I feel good!

The final Build process is now in full swing and I am hanging on and trying not to fall off. There are only about 60 days left in the process of transforming me into Ironman shape. Things are the same and things are different this time around. Last time for Arizona, the focus was volume. This time for Cozumel, the focus in intensity. I have not gotten down to my goal weight, instead I have put pounds on. Surprisingly, I have gotten faster. I am still the same on my swim speed, but my bike speed over long distances has gone up and my run speed is more consistent and I can run for longer periods of time without having to take a walking break. I have more tricks up my sleeve this time to make the entire time that I am out on the race course shorter than it was in Arizona.

Now if I can just stay healthy and avoid the flu for the next 65 days.

Saturday was a good brick. I drove over to the Greyhound compound and got my run gear set up for “transition” practice. We rode over to the pool and jumped in for a 30 minute swim. I was not happy about the temperature of the water, but once I got going, it was o.k. and I was not so cranky. I cracked out 1750 yards. I was happy with that. We hopped on the bikes and rode over to the neighborhood that has a 10 mile loop. After three loops, Greyhound was out of Carbo-Pro and my bladder was about to burst so we headed back to the house so I could start my run. I got about 38 miles of riding done in less than 2 hours. Sweet! The big break through for me was the run. It was now almost 10 a.m. and the sun came out from behind the clouds and the heat cranked up. I ran for the entire hour!!! No stopping to walk, no high heart rate, no caving or hitting the wall. That was a huge achievement for me. That workout was a confidence builder. I was rewarded with getting Sunday off!

Monday, it was back to the workouts. Mondays are big work days for me, so I was unable to get going until after Bud got home from school. I had a track workout and a swim to get in. Here was my track lovin’ workout:

200 m, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200 on a 5 seconds faster than regular 400m pace. Easy jog of 1 minute between each.

The 800’s and that 1000 meter run hurt. I felt like the goof ball gal in scary movies that is running in high heels trying to get away from the lumbering zombie wielding a machete. I felt like I was not getting anywhere and my breathing was getting all ragged. At least the clouds had rolled in and the wind had picked up to keep things comfortable. I probably felt slow because I was running into the wind. After seeing a flash of lightning and I knew I had to finish up and get out of that park.

Needless to say, it started pouring and that meant that there would be no Masters Swim since the pool is outdoors.

Tuesday brought the sun back! I started things out early on the trainer. Since the workout was all about distance I had to do some quick math in my head and realized that my intervals were going to be 9 minutes long. Big gears, fast legs, flat road, and pain. I had 5 of these special intervals. The first one was good, the second one was o.k. and the third one was hard. My arms were starting to get twitchy. I am not sure why that was happening. The last two were really hard to keep my legs from slowing down. I use a metronome to help me keep pace on the trainer and I wanted to hurl that thing across the room.

My legs felt toasted after that. My hip flexors were tight for some reason. I have never experienced that. Today my hamstrings are tight. After getting an oil change on the Element, it was time to head to the pool and swim. Here was the workout:

50 m swim, 50 kick, 50 pull. Repeat 4 times

4 x 75 m descending leaving every 2 minutes

50 m easy kick

Repeat set 5 times

100 m (10 second rest), 200 m, 300 m, 400 m, 500 m, 400 m, 300 m, 200 m, 100 m on long swim pace focusing on form.

100 easy cool down

I had to cut out the 500 m and one of the 400 m reps since I had to grab some lunch and go pick up Bud at school. Sorry Coach Anthony. Anyway, I got 4,050 meters in and a bit of sun burn on my butt where I forgot the sun block. Surprisingly, my shoulders and arms are not punked out today. Does that mean that I have gotten stronger??? I can only hope.

Today is another killer bike workout on the trainer after work and then I get to go do something FUN!!! Macy’s is doing a big promotion called Come + Together and they are raising money for local food banks. Tonight in Houston, the Macy’s next to the gym where I work at is hosting a Mexican Fiesta with master chef Rick Bayless. I am super pumped up!!!

I will be sure to take pictures! Later Gators,

Liz