All my friends are pregnant. And I've got exciting news! I'm 15 weeks!...into training. Truthfully, an Ironman feels a lot like having a baby. My body and mind are going through a lot to prepare for the big day and I just can't wait to meet my little flashy medal that will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Similarities between pregnancy and the road to Ironmama seem endless. I'm nervous, excited, don't know exactly what to expect but praying I don't poop myself. I might vomit. I expect I'll be talking to Jesus a lot! My feet will hurt, my rear-end will hurt, sweat, blood and no doubt plenty of happy tears.
And I'm trying to carry my spirits high, despite near constant lack of sleep and working out on low energy, but there are days I question if I really have the time to carry this through term. And then I made it through the first 10 of 30 weeks and it felt like a milestone that wore off the mental morning sickness and now I'm prepared to fight through this.
So in case you were wondering, here's how the first trimester (base training) went, plus my 10 favorite moments from those long 10 weeks that now feel like they went by in the blink of an eye.
By 10 weeks, my weekly workouts were the size of a ridiculously long work day (11 hours) but finally feeling like a natural part of my day. Unfortunately I haven’t lost a single pound and my clothes fit the same as when I started...but I’m super tan and feeling accomplished!
Base training aimed to do two things: get me used to operating in aerobic zones and learn to base my workouts on time instead of distance.
Training my heart and mind to operate in an aerobic state (that level of exertion where you feel like you can go forever), turned out to be far more mental than physical. The workouts never hurt, just made me ridiculously bored. Like count the cats kind of bored. Like make grocery lists in your head bored. Or call a friend to breathe hard in their ear.
So I’ve been calling my mom at all hours of the day or night, and poor thing always answers. Oh were you getting ready to hop in the shower? Well let me just ramble real quick for 45 minutes. Turns out being able to carry a conversation on the phone is actually a good indicator that I‘m in a low heart rate zone, so I keep holding her hostage for sometimes a full hour (next time you see my mom, give her a high five for being such a selfless person).
But why has it been so mentally frustrating to run in an aerobic zone?
Prior to starting this training program, my typical easy runs were +/- an 8 minute mile. But training in aerobic levels has me running much slower. Sometimes over 11 minutes per mile in this nasty summer heat.
Plus, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I am so vain that it embarrasses me to be seen running at this pace when I know I can go faster and it takes stupid amounts of willpower to refrain from qualifying every Instagram post with, “I’m really actually faster than this, I promise! I’m running slow on purpose!” Because no one wants to hear that. For real. No one cares.
But the Build phase (weeks 11-20) has me giddy about every interval and sprint penciled in the training schedule. In week 11, the training plan noted FIFTEEN minutes where I got to run in zone 4, and I felt like throwing a party!
Aside from heart rate training, I've been reprogramming my brain to work out based on time instead of distance. Timed workouts help me schedule since I now know exactly how long my workouts will take, despite the always changing external factors like temperature, energy levels, or whether or not I ate a bag of Hot Cheetos and called it dinner. And while I initially hated saying I ran 3.78 miles, the perk of scheduling far outweighs my OCD to have nice round mileage.
So 10 weeks in the books behind me, and in case you missed it (follow my stories on Instagram for daily updates), here’s 10 of my favorite moments from that first trimester.
1. There's some strange swimmers at the public pool, but honestly, I'm really glad that people are trying to be active. Keep doing you. But also I'm going to keep doing me by using dolls to reenact my irritation.
2. Late night workouts mean I'm not getting enough sleep at night. So on Mother's Day, I just wanted to sleep in. Crosley woke up early so Blake gave her a job he thought might keep her busy outside for awhile. Picking up dog poop. Jokes on us. She ran into our bedroom excited to tell us "I DID IT! I SCOOPED UP ALL THE DOG POOP WITH MY SHOBEL!" And she was carrying a bucket. Full of dog poop. In our bedroom. Happy Mother's Day.
3. One month into training and I resigned from my engineering job to be home with the kids. It felt like the right thing to do and I have zero regrets. These kids are awesome and I love being their support crew.
4. My second favorite place in the world! It's always a blast sneaking away to Catalina Island and this year I got the added perk of running along the water and not once needing to think about work.
5. When you're talking on the phone through Bluetooth airpods, it's easy to forget that the people around you might not realize you're on a call. So when you say goodbye to your mom with "I love you", check your surroundings first.
6. I love every What's Cookin' Wednesday! But my favorite was the King Ranch Chicken with Mexican Jicama Salad. Wow. Jam packed flavor. Way to go Magnolia Table! So happy I made extra for the freezer.
7. Fall is my middle, er, first name and every year I live up to it once or twice. I skin my knee and elbows and tear open the exact same spot on my thumb. But this time was different. This time I got a half step in to redirect my fall to the wet grass, which acted like a slip-n-slide and honestly I can't complain. It was hot and the water felt refreshing. No blood anywhere, just wet grass on a hot sunny day.
8. Oh the beer tree. Where high schoolers and irrigators go to drink beer in the shade. Or apparently where couples go for some late-night woopie. P.S. It was February 13th, as if that matters.
9. Why had no one told me about the Wet Brush?! It's a game changer! Brushing my hair is a legit chore that I scheduled into my day because it took so long. Now it takes less than 2 minutes. My mind is blown all over the mirror. And the jokes on them because I would have paid $40 for this brush and Target is selling it for $7!
10. San Clemente, my favorite place in the world. This year I slipped in some Superfrog practice running on the beach and the sights were incredible. I saw a couple having the most romantic moment behind the rocks, a group of college kids incorporated me into their football game, and at the end of my run, finally back at our group, Crosley chased me and my crap Nike shoes into the water. We couldn't breathe we were laughing so hard. Memories I'll never forget.
Bonus: After 10 weeks of running monotonously slow, I finally got to sprint. It felt like my birthday! I was so giddy all day long. My legs felt so free that I ran the first sprint in the high 6 min/mile pace!
Now onto the second trimester, the build phase. And I hear i'll have my energy back and feel comfortable about my training. Maybe I'll even go on an Ironbabymoon!