RogersRoadRash: So How Am I Doing?

Back in the middle of July I rather rashy announced that I would be racing my first 70.3 mile "Half Ironman" race in October (Rev.3 Anderson, South Carolina). In order to help achieve this goal, I set myself an "I Will" list of things that I would try to do outside of "workouts". I think it's time to assess how I'm doing and determine where more work is required. Here's the original list (in black) and my updates (in red)....

I Will……

I will make myself and my coach proud at Rev.3 South Carolina 70.3 in October Definitely still a goal! Overall I'm pretty pleased with the way my training is going so far.

In order to do this I will……

….work my ass off for the next three months. (A) I feel as if I am working hard. Workout frequency, duration and intensity have ramped-up. Summer months have helped as I have had significantly less work travel to get in the way. Now I just need to keep it going!

….give 100% on every workout (A-) Can I really say 100%? Probably not and there are times when I just "don't have it" or feel tired, but I'm certainly trying and I haven't skipped any scheduled workouts so far apart from one day when I was feeling unwell.

….lose at least 10 lbs by race day (B) Hmmm.... this one is tough. I have been working hard at it, but the weight is slow to come off. The tape measure tells me things are going well (had to put an extra hole in my belt last week!) but the scale is slow to move. I'm pretty sure that I'm doing all of the right things though and that this surely must come!

….eat fewer carbs (A) Working hard at this and have even given up my beloved Sour Cream and Onion Pringles (aka "Crack Chips"). She Who Must Be Obeyed is giving me crap for eating less than her! :-)

….move my calorie input earlier in the day (B+). Trying. Eating more substantial breakfasts and smaller dinners, but we put a lot of emphasis on family meal times so it can be a challenge!

….cut alcohol consumption by at least 50% (I’m not going nuts!) (B+) Have cut down but give myself a B+ because I know I can do better. As of this week I'm back on my "no mid week" schedule.

….eat more fruit and veggies (A-) Doing pretty well here. I'm not quite Jenn Mayfield with her rabbit food shakes yet, but I'm doing OK!

….stay hydrated (A). Sure love those Nuun tablets!

….get more sleep (get to bed earlier) (B+) Was doing pretty well until this week when the kids went back to school so the alarm goes off very early again. Need to re-adjust bed time!

….get my workouts in earlier to beat the heat (B) Too many early morning calls with Europe, but I'm being good when I can.

….not sneak any extra breaths during swim workouts (A) What can I say? I've been good.

….do more open water work (A) Spending a lot of time at the coast this summer helped. Lots of time in the Atlantic and the sounds.

….perfect my sighting and swim straight! (B) Have been trying hard, but tough to judge. I think I'm getting better.

….finish swim workouts with tired lats (A). Yep! I'm pretty darned tired after some of my pool sessions

….not mash on the bike and maintain a high cadence – distribute power more evenly (A-) Doing well when I think about it, but could do better. Needs to become second nature.

….engage my core and glutes on the bike (?) Hopefully this is coming, but I need The Puppeteer to confirm.

….not freewheel unless I run out of gears (A-) Working hard at this. Rides on the flats at the coast where the pedaling is relentless helps, as does spending more time "in the big ring"

….take more calories on my rides (C) I don't think enough about this. I have just added a dual water bottle holder to the saddle of The Slut, so hopefully this will help.

….stay aero! (A-) Considerable improvement over the past couple of months.

….do 10 mins dynamic warm-up before every run (A) I'm doing as I'm told!

….toe-off and finish every stride (B) Still working on this. I need to concentrate more while I run.

….learn to use contralateral rotation when I run (B?) Ditto.

….become a lot more flexible (B+) Working hard on this and I guess I'm probably improving, burt still a long way to go for this old codger!

….do TRX or other core/flex work at least twice a week (B) Some weeks better than others - what can I say?

….do yoga or other stretch/flex work at least twice a week (B+) Have been stretching, but haven't done much yoga. I need to work more on this!

So there you have it. I have tried to be honest in my assessments and overall I am reasonaly happy with my progress. Mostly As and Bs. Still lots of work to do though!

Highlight for me has undoubtedly been my swim progress. On a macro level The Puppeteer went as far as to say that my run is now more a "limiter" than my swim last week and that's really saying something! Outside of actual performance in any of the three disciplines core strength and flexibility remain limiters and are big areas to work on over the coming months. More effort also required on getting those 10 lbs off - I'm about half way there.