Volume 33: No Need To Get Ready If You Stay Ready

 

It's been a bit hot here in Kansas!

    Welcome to summer in the midwest! It was a hot one on the first day of summer 10 days ago and it hasn't let up.  This next couple of months of training will be a bit tougher because of the heat and humidity, but I'll get it done.  Florida can be hot too (although it has been in the 40's for race day a few years ago!).  Week 2 out of 20 in the books heading to Ironman Florida.....

Weekly Stats:

• Swim (3x)
• 2.13 miles (3,756 yards)
• 1:22:35
• Bike (4x)
• 73.20 miles
• 4:00:06
• Run (3x)
• 15.34 HOT miles
• 2:38:02
• Strength (2x)
• 39:27
• Yoga (3x)
• 1:07:04
• Other (1x)
• 1:03:08 (Paddleboard)
• TOTALS:
• 16 workouts
• 92.51 miles
• 10:50:22

Training Notes:

    Week 2 is done!  Getting back into the rhythm of everyday workouts, but with the added not-exactly-routine days.  With summertime in full effect, my daily routines seem to be out of whack.  Later nights, not having to be up at 4:20 (yet) to get a long bike ride in, and extremely hot weather has made it....interesting.  The plan I am going with for the full Ironman is a beginner plan, working off the base that I built for Eagleman, now 3+ weeks ago.  The first 10 weeks or so will be a build up phase, although my long rides are already into the 90+ minute range.  Makes sense as I will be working up to 6 hour bike rides and 3 hour runs (not back-to-back).  So again, I had few days this week where it just feels like I'm not doing enough, but I know how well the training worked for Eagleman, and I have to go back to that trusting the plan thing.  It IS good to get a little more rest right now because I know that in a few months, rest will be something I crave and will have to be really diligent about prioritizing.

    I've been trying to swim at the outdoor pool when I can, so that has probably messed the
schedule up in my head the most since the pool doesn't open until the afternoon.  Two out of my three swimming days I would be at the indoor pool by 5:30AM.  On Wednesday this week, I went out to Shawnee Mission Lake to do an open-water swim with the Olathe West Tri Club.  It was good to see some of the kids out there practicing and I was able to ge a few laps around the small buoy course they have set up.  A lot shorter than I was planning, but it's good to be able to swim in the water that I will be racing in two weeks.  High (or low) note of that day was being bit by a fish while just standing there.  Guess it mistook the little dark mark on my side as bait, and attacked. I survived the piranha attack so that's a feather in my triathlon cap!

   

    We were able to purchase some new road bikes for the Tri Club through a grant we received, and I helped pick them up on Tuesday.  We were planning on getting in a practice ride on the Shawnee Mission course, but for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, we were stormed out of the time. All my bike rides this week ended up being on the trainer.  I was having some issues for the first couple of rides with my HR not registering right.  It was saying it was very low compared to where I know it was.  But that resolved itself and I'm back to solid HR info.  On Sunday, I started the show "Stranger Things". I watched 1-1/2 episodes before but never got into it. I think this will be a better show to ride to than Lost.  A little more intense and fast-paced.  Onc bummer on my rides this week was the ROUVY app seemed to have purged many of my "fun"rides.  I've been "riding" across America and am about 3/4 across Kansas towards Colorado. And now the other routes are no longer in the system.  NOt sure what the deal is, but I'm contemplating switching to Zwift instead.  That's what most other riders use, way more popular than what I was using.  This might be like FINALLY switching from Android to Apple.  Get with the cool-kids club.  Have to do some investigating first....

    

My runs were just plain hot. No way around that. I sweated a bunch which I don't mind at all, but am making sure I'm staying hydrated and fueled on these extra hot days.  Saturday morning was 68 degrees, but I still came home after 80 minutes looking like I had gone for a swim.  But the humid still air early in the morning does give way to great sunrises.  There ARE bonuses for getting up early.  

    I did try something new this week. Julie and I went paddle boarding on Saturday night, and after she decided to go for a short unexpected swim, I figured we might try yoga on the water.  That was an experience.  One or two poses weren't going to happen or I was going to straight into the water.  But overall it was challenging and fun.  Definitely works the core more with trying to stabilize on the rocking board.  Julie got a little seasick from one of the poses where you twist up and look at your hand in the air.  With the water shimmering, it gave the feeling of movement (even though we were barely drifting).  I even had to shake that off.  I would love to make that a Saturday or Sunday yoga session each week.  Love being on the water and I guess if I did go overboard, oh well.

Daily Life:

"Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it."

I Peter 3:15 (NLT)

    Somewhere this week, I heard the phrase "You don't have to get ready if you stay ready".  Not sure if it was the book I'm reading, the show I was watching, or a podcast I listened to. I've been racking my mind trying to figure that out, but just can't nail it down.  Doesn't matter anyway.  I was thinking about that as I was feeling like I'm building back up.  I know I'm in great shape right now and haven't lost anything since Eagleman, but the heat and humidity do slow me down. My HR is higher so I have to go slower to keep the HR where it's supposed to be.  After the week "off" after Eagleman, I knew I had to get right back into training.  If I had taken a couple more weeks off (which could have been possible) I would still have been OK, but definitely would have had to work harder to get back into the groove.  

    As I thought about how this phrase applies in my everyday life--firefighting (even though I'm not on line anymore), triathlon training, family, and my spiritual life, I truly believe the phrase works for all of them.  For firefighters, police or military, they don't just do things when they're called into action.  We stay ready so when we ARE called into action, we can just do the job.  We should always be ready to go.  Can't wait until the bell goes off or the radio call goes out to now start getting prepared.  Staying healthy and in shape works the same.  I would love to maintain a state of physical readiness where if someone asked me to run a half marathon in a couple of week, I could.  Not that it would be a PR, or even pretty, but that I could go out there and do the "job".  The worst part of starting something from scratch and having to build up is the beginning. But once the buildup phase is complete, it becomes easier.  I don't want to go back to doing nothing after IM Florida.  I want to continue striving towards something, not necessarily to bigger things, but to just keep moving forward. 

    

    This is a big deal in my spiritual life too.  If I am not prepared for struggles that come my way, if I'm not ready to talk about my faith and explain my beliefs, or if I'm just stagnant, then when the "alarm goes off", I'll be playing catch up and trying to get ready at that point.  I want to always stand ready to answer for my faith.  And that means always "working out" in my faith so if the time comes, I'm ready.  I'm definitely not there all the time--it won't always be pretty and I might stumble around some, but that's my prayer.  Staying in good spiritual shape so I don't have to start from the beginning each day.  Just like being in good physical shape.

Final Thoughts:

   

    10% of my way to Ironman Florida.  Still seems a long ways off, but I'm confident the weeks will just start clicking by.  I have a log ways to go before I'm ready.  I'll be prepared.  Will I be ready?  Yes, I think so--the marathon at the end still makes me wince thinking about it! Will it go as smooth as Eagleman? Probably not, but I hope so.  For now, I just want to keep doing what I need to.  Get my rest.  Stay hydrated.  And keep my eyes fixed on the goal.  One week at a time.  On to week 3.  

    As always, thanks for following my journey. I'm getting closer to this end. Not sure what the plan is after November but I'm sure I'll come up with something!  Until next week,

Keep Fit, Stay THE Course,

 and Keep Moving Forward!

123 days, 9 hours, 21 minutes until Ironman Florida!

CPC

6/30/25

Olathe, KS