March Tricks and Treats

The end of March wraps up roughly three months of Ironman training. Here's a couple of photos to recap this month's highs and lows.

Treat - the DQ Dipped Cone.

Thanks to lots of time spent swimming, biking, and running I can have a lot of treats that I would guess you wouldn't see most diabetics indulging in. I got a nostalgic hankering for a Dairy Queen dipped cone last week. It's not so much that it's the tastiest ice cream as it is that it brings back childhood for me in a very tangible way. I think this is much the same expression you would have seen on my face when the cone was placed in my hand at age 5.

Trick - Wetsuit Rash

I had my first open water swim this past Saturday and it went badly. I have had panic issues during the first open water swim of the season in the past and they came back full force for this swim. Unfortunately the water was cold at least in my estimation - my coach was walking in waist deep in shorts but she's crazy - and as soon as my face hit the water I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me. I made it through our brief warm up swim but after I found out we would be swimming for another 50 minutes my mind started playing panic tricks with me and I never recovered a good mind set. There was a lot of wheezing and hyperventilating and a lot of treading water and trying to give myself a pep talk. It was during that treading water that I got the wetsuit rash pictured above, so... that didn't help matters. The best thing I can say about this workout was that I did make it through the 50 minutes. I would be concerned if this was the first time this has happened but since it's not I am sure I will be OK. I have never had this kind of anxiety at a race but may have to make a back up cold water plan for Ironman Canada since that lake is cold, likely colder than what I encountered on Saturday.


Thankfully Sunday was a ride only day and that felt fantastic. Got to train and socialize with a lot of Team in Training alumni as a fundraiser for our friend Jane who is going to be doing the Race Across America with a group here in Georgia (Georgia Chain Gang) who is doing the race to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 64 miles averaging 17.2 mph on a rolling to hilly course - woot!


It's not all smooth sailing right now - particularly with the swimming -  but I'm really happy to be in a recovery week which means my training mileage and intensity will ramp down through Sunday. This is coming just in time as I am definitely feeling drained and a little under the weather. Here's hoping I rebound strong after this week.