InnerTeub

Soooooooooooooo. Yes. I have both a blog and an IM training schedule. Both have been slightly neglected.

The race is soon. Frighteningly soon. And I’m still screwing up nutrition on the bike, which is Seriously Freaking Me Out. Most long rides I have been doing I have just felt … god, I dunno, so TIRED about 2 hours in.  My last long ride I full on bonked 1.5 hours in, indicating the nutrition I have been using is just plain not working, which, I mean, from a learning perspective I suppose is nice, but it’s not helping me get the mileage in.

I can be thankful that at least I have friends that take pictures while in motion, however:

I had grand plans to get in a solid mid week ride this morning (3x 10 mile time trials), which is a longish ride for the morning but not undoable, especially with daylight starting so early. No problem, right? So of course I managed to get a flat 8 miles in, which is theoretically not a big deal, but then my spare tube wouldn’t inflate, and a friend who stopped to help ALSO couldn’t get another tube to inflate, and I had to call for a ride to come save me. Ugh, a full morning wasted, for both me AND Mike, who had to abandon his workout to pick me up.

How many bike tubes does it take to get me home ...

Two botched rides is not necessarily a recipe for disaster, but we’re at that point in training where every little thing just seems more overwhelming than the next.

Two people in one house training for for the same Ironman is AWESOME if you need companion for training rides/runs/swims, or even just for someone to listen to you while you debate the nutritional merits of eGels vs Gu vs Gatorade. Two people in one house training for the same Ironman is NOT awesome if you need someone to, say, take care of shit. Handle life. Grocery shop, pick up dry cleaning, clean the house, walk the dog, do laundry, fold laundry, put away laundry, do laundry again. Make dinner. Clean up dinner. Etc.  All the little maintenancy life things that have to happen to keep things moving along that get downgraded on the priority list when IM training really gears up.

Or, as I so delicately put it the other day: “We need a wife.”

Anyway, so that’s where we are. I’m out of time to make up botched workouts, which means sitting on the side of the road this morning trying to get in a third tube to my damn front wheel was basically the most frustrating thing in the world. But that’s ok. It’s all part of the process, and I’ve been here before. But man, you know: ugh. Just… ugh.

Which is all to say: we’ve decreed a “One IM Training Person At A Time” rule in our house. Assuming we ever do this again. Which we will. Because if there is one thing I have learned about triathlon, it’s that you never remember this feeling. Never.

Hopefully next time I’m feeling  it, I’ll have wife waiting at home, cooking me breakfast after cleaning the house. Man, a girl can dream, right?