I wrote my last blog as I was rolling into Lake Chelan and I’m writing this one as I’m rolling out of Lake Chelan. Don’t worry I’m not driving. This was a fantastic weekend of Ironman training that seems like it ended too soon. As we’re driving away there’s a smoky glaze hovering over the lake from a nearby forest fire. Apparently someone had a little too much fun. Let me share with you my weekend of fun!
After getting into town on Friday we had an awesome steak dinner with fresh lettuce from the garden and mushrooms, garlic, and onions covering the steak. You can’t beat fresh veggies from the garden! Then I decided to rest up for the big workout day and went to sleep early.
On Saturday I got up and grabbed some Jack3d, and walked up to the local high school where I was hoping the get into the weight room. Unfortunately all of the weight room doors were locked and I couldn’t find a janitor anywhere. Walking back to the house felling a little bummed I planned what I would do instead… I decided on the super tabata workout that includes pull ups, push ups, sit ups, and squats. It felt like my lactic acid build up was especially intense, but I blasted through the sets and felt like the finished was my strongest part of the workout. After the 16 minute workout I slammed a bunch of eggs, spinach, oatmeal, and berries to fuel for my biking and running brick that was up next. I met up with a friend and we hit the exact road where the ChelanMan race is going to be held, and we did an 18 mile ride followed by a 3 mile interval run. I felt great, like I could have gone all day! After all of the exercising fun it was cheat day so I got a large pizza from the Local Myth in downtown Chelan and a box of Frosted Miniwheats to reload my muscles and metabolism. The food was amazing!
Today it was swimming time! Someone in town told me that the lake was a warm and tingly 40 degrees, but I wasn’t so sure. I loaded up my wetsuit and headed for the lake. The intensity of the cold water was definitely over hyped and no match for my wetsuit. A friend and I did 10x100m/y close to the shore, and we marked off the distance with sticks in the sand. The 100’s were intense, but really seemed to fly by. This being my first time swimming in a wetsuit this year I was happy with how it felt. I remember using a wetsuit for the first time ever in Lake Michigan during last summers epic road trip from NYC to Seattle and feeling like I was going to die because my lunges couldn’t expand, but this time I didn’t feel that at all. It was actually really nice to have that extra buoyancy that the wetsuit provides. As a word of caution make sure that you swim in your wetsuit before you race with a wetsuit, it is a whole different ball game. After the swim it was eating, relaxing, and cleaning up the house in preparation to return to Seattle.
And now I’m in the car driving toward the Cascade Mountains and wishing that I could stretch my Chelan time to 2-3 weeks. Again, if you’re planning on doing the ChelanMan in July let me know!
PS has anyone used the Brooks Racer ST 5 Brooks T7 Racer?
