Looking ahead

I'm almost to the half-way point of my training plan. As I finish up week 14, I'm thinking about what I need to focus on for the next 15 weeks (other than swimming, biking and running).

I've got to figure out a fueling plan. I've been diligently writing down what I'm eating/drinking on my long weekend workouts, but I want to have a solid, well-thought out plan for race day. Will I eat any solid foods? If not, that's a long day of Gu's. But I tend to start off every run in a tri feeling bloated and full, and I need to figure out if it's caused by what I'm eating on the bike. 

I don't want to end up like this guy.

Also, I tend to get foot cramps by the end of the run. It's happened in both 1/2 IMs and a little bit in the last marathon I did. I took electrolyte tablets, felt like I hydrated enough, so I'm not sure if it's nutrition-related, or just plain exhaustion. I'm hoping I can figure out how to prevent them over the last few months of training, or else it could make for a VERY long and painful marathon. 

I'm happy to say my tire-changing skills have progressed quite nicely since that first episode in my living-room. Deanne taught me a few tricks she learned and my time went from an hour and a 1/2 down to about 10 mins. Not bad! 

Next, I need to learn how to use a CO2 cartridge. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm a little frightened of them, mostly because of an incident that happened several years ago. I was about 4 months pregnant with my son Jack, out on a ride with my friends, when I got a flat. None of us had ever used one, but my friend Michele bravely volunteered to inflate the tire because she didn't think the pregnant lady should be handling the CO2 cartridge. The instant she opened it, it made a sound like a gunshot, the tire blew up, and her hand was coated in frost. She said it was numb the whole way home. People were coming out of their houses to see what the hell we did. At that point I convinced my friends I was fine, waved them on to finish their ride, and sat by the side of my road to wait for my husband to come pick me up.

So yeah, I need to learn how to use those things. 

Other than that, I'm trying to keep up with my weight training, stretching, foam-rolling, and getting enough sleep, all of which have become more difficult as the training progresses. Deanne and I signed up for our training camp in Lake Placid, which sadly is the same weekend as my wedding anniversary. I really don't know how people do multiple Ironmans and stay married. 

I'm taking my vitamins, mostly eating right, saying "no" to anything that starts after 8pm, and keeping my fingers crossed for an injury-free, illness-free spring.