Marathons and Motivation: Ironman Mont Tremblant Training: The First 6 Weeks

It has been so long since I have blogged! I had every intention of writing a post at the end of each week of my Ironman Training, but here it is 6 weeks later...yikes! Let's just say that Ironman training is a bit time consuming. I have loved every minute of it, but spare time does not exist! Of course, with 2 young children involved in multiple extracurricular activities, a job, a husband with a crazy work schedule, multiple pets, etc. I did not have extra time to begin with. In fact, it was a huge decision to tackle the goal of completing an Ironman, but here I am at week 6 of training and going straight forward to reach a dream I have had since I was 14 years old..to become an Ironman!

My training began on 12/29/2014 and I am proud to say that I have hit every workout that my coach has scheduled since the beginning! I must admit that I was surprised at the intensity of the training right off the "starting block"! My first week of training had me doing a 2 hour bike trainer ride along with about 8 hours of additional swimming/biking/ & running. Each week has been challenging with approximate total training time between 10 to 11 hours. The training fluctuates where I may be on a recovery week swimming, but have a challenging week running. I have truly enjoyed it and am so thrilled with the coach I am using! She is so encouraging and provides continuous feedback.

I just completed Week #6 of the training, which was Test Week! Before I started training, my Coach had me do a swim, bike, & run test so she could design my training plan using Heart Rate & Power Thresholds. I was amazed at the progress I have made in the past 6 weeks! I dropped 20 seconds off my 300 yard swim time, improved my FTP on the bike by nearly 25 Watts, & dropped 30 seconds off my Long Distance Run pace!! Now, I know I was starting at the bottom, but it is so empowering to see strides like that in just 6 weeks!

I am planning on Blogging at the end of each week of my training starting now, so I hope you will follow me on this journey to Ironman Mont Tremblant in August 2015!!

Here are a few pictures I have shared on Instagram (follow me at Marathonmatron) on my training so far:

Snow Day Fun: 2 1/2 Hour Trainer Ride, followed by Crockpot cooking & measuring snowfall amount with my favorite tool (wine)!! :-)