Ironman Louisville Training 2018 {week 11}

Week 11 totals:

Run: 40.06 miles, 5:39:56 hours

Bike: 118.41 miles, 7:17:11 hours

Swim: 2200 yards (1.25 miles) 53:51 minutes

Training Cycle totals (start May 28)

Run: 303.45 miles, 43:27 hours

Bike: 1048.67 miles, 65:16 hours

Swim: 2200 yards (1.25 miles) 53:51 minutes

Highlights:

Finally going for a swim! I don’t know what my problem has been (being sick for 3 weeks didn’t help, can’t speak for the previous 6) but once I was there I felt great.  

Being more than halfway with training is awesome. To know we only have 9 weeks left is amazing! I’m literally counting down the days until I have my weekends back again. During the week my workouts are generally the same duration for whatever I’m training for- like 1:15 a day. The weekend training for Ironman is ridiculously time consuming. This weekend I spent nearly 9 hours working out. 

Low lights: 

Can’t think of any for this week. Woot woot. 

Thoughts:

I finally feel much better about the IM, and much more excited too. Having a solid swim has pumped up my confidence that I will have a great day in Louisville. I was concerned about the swim- but when I got into the pool on Saturday, I just started swimming and kept going. I had been worried I’d freak out or have difficulty breathing, but I felt at home. 

I’d like to believe I’m making progress on the bike. I signed up for Zwift academy (free) and set my goal to grand fondo (100-200k ride goal). Now Zwift gives me workouts to do each week which will help me achieve a more solid ride for the IM. I’ve done 3 workouts this week for ZA including ramp ups, a long tempo and low gear spin work. 

Another cool thing about Zwift is that I completed all 7 stages of the SiS Tour de Oz in July- and for that I received 30 free SiS gels, And the opportunity to purchase the real life kit that we wore in the virtual tour. I’m seriously hooked on Zwift. It saves me a bunch of time  to ride inside, and is much safer than if I rode outside. 

On Baking bread:

It’s been a tradition for me to buy a cook book when I visit places- so when we were at the airport leaving Copenhagen in May, I picked up this baking book by Claus Meyer. I had never been into baking previously, but the thought of making my own bread sounded interesting. 

I started by making a starter. Happy Birthday, starter! You’re one month old!

I’ve been making Øland wheat loaves the past few weeks. 

I love the process of refreshing the starter, and then mixing the dough the next morning and seeing it come alive. 

CB dog approves. 

This week I’ll be making 2 loaves in tins instead of a free form loaf. I figured it would be easier for sandwiches and just as tasty. 

I am absolutely obsessed with this wheat bread. It’s got a nice crust and inside it is perfect. It has a great flavor too. I need to select another recipe to try soon- maybe a luxurious dough to make cinnamon bread?

Balcony Pepper Garden:

We decided this year to have 6 pepper plans to grow on our balcony. We love the YouTube show called “Hot Ones” where host Sean Evans interviews celebrities while eating increasingly hot wings. We are now very much into hot sauce and figured the next logistical step would be to grow our own peppers. 

Long gold peppers are C. baccatum. Fairly spicy but good flavor. 

This spooky pair are Carolina reapers. The hottest pepper in the world. 

This guy is Trinidad Scorpion- also a former record holder of hottest pepper in the world.  

This last one is a Brazilian Beak Pepper. They are Smokey and have a little kick. I’ll turn these into a relish or pickle them. 

{not pictured are the habanero red sauvin and the sweet non spicy Frigatello) 

The super hot peppers will be dehydrated to make pepper dust to sprinkle on food. Maybe I’ll also try making a hot sauce. 

We also have a planter full of wild flowers- currently the only ones blooming are the Uber exotic, marigold plant :)

Looking forward:

I’m getting increasingly excited about completing my second Ironman. I’ve been putting in the work (minus swimming until this week) and just didn’t feel good about it. Now I have an extra pep in my step towards this race. 

I’ll try to get to the lake to do an open water swim this week. If not, I’ll hit the pool again. 

Zwift academy will help with my short days when I need higher intensity workouts on the bike. 

I’ll also mix in some intervals this week for running. I’d like to leave this training cycle in a place that enables me to chase some massive running PRs for 2019. 

The boys have been great this week. 

For #goalz2018 I’m currently at 33/52 new to me recipes. My latest creation was pickling peppers from my balcony. I’ve never pickled peppers before, and now that my peppers are starting to mature at the same time, I need to figure out what to do with them so they don’t go to waste. The extremely hot peppers- the Carolina reaper, Trinidad scorpion and habanero sauvin will be dried in the dehydrator and made into pepper dust.  A full list of what I’ve made this year is 

{HERE}

63 days to go! 🙃😲😂😭🤮