Lessons Learned While Doing An Indoor Ironman

Each year, our local community center hosts an Indoor Ironman in February.  It's perfect timing, really.  It's cold, winter is getting long, our new year's resolutions to get in shape may be fading from our memories, and the month breaks down into 4 perfect weekly segments.  I've known about this event for a couple of years, but never committed to actually getting it done.  This year, four of us decided to give it a "tri."

A full distance 140.6 Ironman is made up of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 26.2 miles of running.  Some people, who may or may not be human, complete these distances in a single day.  Being completely human, Connie, Shelley, Jenny, and I  agreed to split that into a 28 day event.  We paid our $20 fee, got our pass to use the community center for the month, our log book to track our progress, and created our plans.  First, we broke the distances into 4 weekly segments.  Each week, we needed to swim about 1,055 yards, bike 28 miles, and run about 6.5 miles.  In order to have a day off each week, we could then split each of those in half & have about an hour of exercise 6 days a week. Totally doable.

I am happy to report that each one of us completed that Ironman.  At the end, I did the math:  140.6 miles over 28 days (if you get rid of that pesky .6) turns out to be 5 miles of exercise each and every day. Wow! We learned a few things along the way, too:  Exercise is more fun with a friend (especially if it is exercise you don't love, like swimming for me), big goals are easier when you break them in to small goals, writing down your exercise is great for personal accountability & is also very motivating.  We also learned that it isn't always easy to fit the sessions in when you're confined to specific times (like lap-swim times). Life gets busy & it takes commitment to get the miles in, but it's worth it. Once you've decided to exercise 6 days a week for a month to meet your goal, it becomes easier to get regular exercise in when the Ironman is done (and it helps that the weather starts to warm up, too).  We also discovered aches & pains and allergies.  We learned that sometimes the t-shirt you get at the end isn't as great as the sense of accomplishment.  We learned that we are (Indoor) Ironmans...Ironmen...Ironwomen.... We did it!

DC 8 Miler

So the other day we decided we need to get out of our neighborhood again and run. All winter long we were stuck to the neighborhood streets...same house over and over again. It's like that scene in the move National Lampoon's European Vacation...when Clark gets stuck in the traffic circle and he says over and over again, "Look kids Big Ben!" that has been our running. Boring! We thought how fun would it be to run downtown DC?!! We live here but it is still truly awesome to run in DC on the National Mall.

We set a date and then had to change it because the weather has been awful here...freezing rain for our run day...boooo! So we changed it to the next day and it was absolutely beautiful out! We loaded up and headed in town. We had more than 3 people in our car so we took the HOV, thank goodness because the regular traffic lanes were backed up and stopped! We parked in our not so secret parking lot, also known as Roosevelt Island. Usually people skip this little gem because it is off the normal path. It is a beautiful place and if you ever come here, try to see it.

The run started off really great...then I took a wrong turn and went over the wrong bridge. We were trying to go over the Memorial Bridge onto the National Mall...oops.  I went onto Custis Memorial Pkway Bridge which was about to take us into working DC! Well we figured out really fast we were on the wrong one and turned around quickly and chalked it up to extra miles!

We finally found the right bridge and headed downtown DC to the National Mall. We decided to take our first picture on the bridge looking at the Lincoln Memorial. So I take out my pocket camera that I never use but made sure to charge it and bring an extra SPI belt to carry it in and we attempted to take the first picture...I forgot to put the card in the camera..So no picture! Oops again! But on we run..we arrive at the Lincoln Memorial and one of the ladies needed to use the restroom so Lisa and I ran around the memorial for extra and met back up with them for our first photo!

On we ran...the next stop was The Washington Monument (under construction) and The White House.

Then we ran on and ran past all the museums and then we decided to run into The National Sculpture Garden. I have never been in there and thought it would be cool! 

The girls found it ironic and funny that we "the locals" were having tourist take pictures of us! So once we hit the sculpture garden that put us right at 4 miles and the perfect spot to turn around and head back. We had a great time running back people watching and at one point Lisa and I pulled away just a bit from Ginger and Jen and they got stopped at a light so we ran on. Then Lisa and I had a few minutes at the Lincoln Memorial to run the stairs and go take a picture! 

We were all reunited again once we finished picture taking and headed back over the bridge and the WIND WAS AWFUL...I was running my hardest across that bridge and I felt like I was getting nowhere. I even have wind burn on the side of the my right arm!!! Crazy! Once we were off the bridge we turned and were down below by the water and the wind was gone! Thank goodness! Once we got back to the car we stretched and headed to lunch and toasted our fabulous fun run!!

Here is an outtake photo that cracks me up every time I look at it..it is Jen trying to stand up after her knee popped and I am sure people were wondering what was going on...the wall is only 2 feet tall if that! What makes it even more funny..the way I am just looking at her instead of trying to help her...but I promise I did offer!

Spring Training in full force.

So I have never done a spring 10 miler or 13.1 (honestly, my first for both was last fall) and spring training kinda sucks in the beginning. First, I hate running in the cold and second, after a winter break it's hard to get back into the groove of running.

So about 2 weeks ago I started training for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler on April 6th and a half marathon I have coming up in late April. The first week sucked big time...I couldn't find a good pace and the hills around my house are awful...I walked up all of them! Then last weekend went better and I started getting my groove back...this weekend I ran 6.5 miles with Ginger and felt great! Although, I think I talked too much..hopefully Ginger doesn't mind. :)

This week the goal was 7 miles so we wanted a change of scenery so Jen and I headed to the Mount Vernon trail that runs along the Potomac River. It started off a little chilly but ended up being the perfect temperature for running. The trail in the summer time can be overloaded with people but during school (or non-tourist) time the trail is empty on week days. We saw probably about 15 to 20 people the whole time. I love running along the river it is beautiful. The run overall went well...I started to get tired towards the end, but after 6.5 on Sunday and Spin and a 2 mile run yesterday my legs were tired. It's done now and I feel great!

We also saw a funny tree that had lost hats and gloves all over it. I am ready for hat and glove weather to end! Oh, and the bonus at the end of the run...I packed yummy snacks to eat. The oranges were perfect and Jen enjoyed the grapes.

Next week we are planning a run on The National Mall. Hopefully I get some great pictures!