Month: May 2020

Crushing Ironman VR7

Alex MarianosLeave a comment
Dj Khaled GIF by Music Choice

That’s right – I did another one! This weekend marked my third Ironman VR experience. This was the second sprint tri simulation. The challenge consisted of a 1.5K run, 20K ride, 5K run.

I was hoping since this was my second sprint tri simulation, that my time would be the same if not a little better, but actually, it was about 7 minutes slower. Disappointing, sure, but I wouldn’t have changed one thing about it. I will tell you why as I relive each activity in the challenge.

will ferrell snl GIF by Saturday Night Live

1.5K Run

This was arguably the most extra way to do a 1.5K run. But I will let you in on a little secret about me…once I set my mind to do something, rain or shine, I get it done.

I knew I wanted to break apart this VR series, instead of completing it all in one go like last weekend. My plan was to do the 1.5K run and ride on the same day with the 5K the next day. So that left me with completing the 1.5K run on Saturday. And guess what. The weather forecast Saturday was torrential downpour. Did I postpone my run to Sunday? Psh, what fun is that? Nope – I suited up in my best rain deterrent gear and headed out.

Peep the tin foil hat I was given. Apparently the family thought I look like someone evading government satellites. Also rain sunglasses are a game changer.

This was the only event in which I beat my prior time (the rain is a great motivator). Bested it by a minute and in pouring rain. Something to be proud of!

20K Ride

The ride was fun and challenging for a couple of different reasons.

  1. It was my first Zwift experience (makes a heck of a difference when you can’t coast down a hill!)
  2. I rode my mom’s Felt tri bike
  3. I had just run a dang fast mile in a torrential downpour

Zwift was so much more challenging than I anticipated. It was both my first time on a smart trainer and off my Litespeed bike. I think it’s criminal that you can’t coast. It was a tough ride for sure. The time was nearly identical to my first 20K ride outdoors.

5K Run

Ok so I will just put it out there that I had big plans for this 5K. It was going to take me 28 minutes and I was going to feel like a champ. That absolutely did not happen, but for a few reasons.

Some of which are: I was up until 3am the morning of helping my brother with a project, Zwift really kicked my leg’s into sore mode and the absolute worst one – the weather. It was one of those really sunny days after a downpour and the streets are even sweating and you are breathing thick air and let’s just put it out there…It’s the worst weather ever. And I can’t forget this, my family made me laugh so hard before running that my abs were sore and I was out of breath. This kind of laughing followed me for half the run coming from series a reality series worthy family. Note to race creators: comedy 5Ks will yield the slowest times ever recorded.

All done

Although it was not quite the amazing time trial I was hoping for, I had so much fun getting to complete this one surrounded by my family and I wouldn’t change a thing. Check out some of my favorite moments below!

Even more videos of the rain run are up on my instagram (@watchalextri).

Shifting my training mindset

Alex MarianosLeave a comment

What a time to be a triathlete. What a heck of a time to be a beginner triathlete! When I began this journey in January, I planned to participate in two sprint triathlons – one in April and one in May. Of course those have both been cancelled and I am just about finished up with my 12-week lifetime sprint triathlon training plan that would have finished this Monday for Captex tri.

Sad Am Fine GIF by MOODMAN
This was me when all of the races started to cancel

Now on my final week of that plan, I have been struggling with how to continue training. Do I train to an imaginary race date? Do I just train by saying I bike 3x a week, strength 3x a week and run 4x a week? What on earth are we supposed to be doing??

I Don'T Know Idk GIF

While I figure out the best way for me to continue to train, I know there are 3 goals that I want to work toward before my first race:

  1. Build endurance. This is a no brainer! My athletic history is not full of endurance sport. I ran sprints in track, 2-mile races in cross country and skated 3.5 minute programs as a figure skater. I have a lot to learn about building and maintaining endurance not only through runs, but through triathlons of various lengths! My specific goal here is to be able to get off from an 20K bike and immediately jump into a 5K run that I can complete at least at a 10min/mi pace.
  2. Work on speed. This is where my short burst activities come in handy, but I have a lot of work to do to find those fast-twitch muscles again and learn to incorporate them with the new endurance side of training. My specific goal here is to move my base 5K pace from 10min/mi to 9:30min/mi and my mile time to a consistent 8:30min/mi pace.
  3. Dial in on strength training. I have a lot of extra time on my hands now and that is giving me more of an opportunity than usual to focus on cross-training, preventing injury and making me stronger through each part of a triathlon.

As part of working toward those goals, I identify benchmark activities that indicate my fitness and race readiness. This could be a specific workout every two or three weeks, one of the Ironman virtual races or even a homemade triathlon.

How are you training during this time? Have you had to modify your training method?

In the meantime, however you train, I hope you are still having a blast with this. I know I am.

My Ironman VR6 Experience

Alex Marianos6 Comments
Ironman VR6Image courtesy of Ironman Virtual Club

This past Saturday I completed the Ironman VR6 in a special way…more on that later.  Now, three days later with my sunburn fading and my joints much happier I can reflect on the challenge I conquered!

I have to admit when signed up for the challenge I misread the distances a little bit. Instead of a 40K ride, my mind saw a 20K ride. And rather than a 3K run, I saw a 5K run. Luckily, the night before I set out to race, I opened a text from my mom asking where I was planning to complete my 40K ride. That’s when it hit me that I would be riding my highest mileage yet and I hadn’t mentally prepared for that. Thank goodness she texted me otherwise I would have been in a pretty crummy mood after completing a 20K ride to figure out I then had to go do an additional 40K. Feeling grateful for a mother’s intuition that caught at least one of my mistakes.

mother knows best

My race plan was to wake up early around 7:00a Saturday, pack up my bike and snacks and head out to White Rock Lake. The order of events would be: 10K run, 40K bike and 5K run (remember…I still don’t know it’s just a 3K).

Unlike the majority of athletes partaking in virtual race, I wasn’t planning to break the activities apart throughout the weekend. I wanted to challenge myself to complete 53km of work in one day. Something I have never done before.

The morning started out great with an evenly paced 10K, finishing out at about 1:08. My husband and I did the run together, which kept us both way more honest with our pacing. I took a little time after the run to re-fuel and then hopped on my bike for the 40K.

10K Run
Garmin stats from the 10K run. Notice how I ended the run right on the dot at 6.20. Not going a step over lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My legs felt GREAT for the first 10 miles of the ride and those were a fast 10 miles too! But something happened around mile 11 and I could feel some strain in my hips, but I reminded myself that I still had 13 miles and a full lap around the lake the go. That kept me going for another 2 miles, then at mile 13 I had to stop eat some pretzels, drink water, question all my life’s decisions leading up to here, then decide to keep pedaling for the remaining 11 miles.

what am I doing
Me at mile 13

For the most part, those were some pretty bad miles. I can’t even describe the tightness in my hips. But I. Did. It. And just like that, 1:43 later, I was off the God forsaken machine.

40K ride
It was busy and windy out this Saturday. Slowing down a lot before passing, etc messed with my avg speed.

Now for the real butt of the joke! Remember I thought I had to do a 5K now. So what did I do? I hobbled off my bike, knees and hips questionably in order, and set off to walk the final 5K and feeling like a true athletic hero for doing it. I didn’t realize until 10 minutes after completing the 5K (in the car on the way home) that I only needed to do a 3K. And Ironman VR rules say they won’t accept lengths more than a kilometer over the mandated length. Oops.

stupid brain

 

 

 

On the way home, stewing over the 5K and knowing I needed to do a 3K, I decided to be dropped off exactly 1.86 miles away from home (because I am sure as heck not doing more than the minimum at this point) so that I could still complete Ironman VR6 in one day. So that’s what I did – I walked home and finished the race and felt like a dang champ for doing it.

3K
Told you…a 3K right on the money.

5 final lessons from VR6:

  1. It’s not always about winning the race, sometimes it is just about the challenge of completing the race. In this case for me, my time would have been astronomically better if I had done the ride on another day. But my purpose was to challenge my body to completed 53K of work in one day. And I am proud of that accomplishment regardless of my final standing!
  2. It’s VERY important to say “on your left” when passing on a bike. What was up with so few people doing it???
  3. Take more than 2 water bottles.
  4. Snacks save lives.
  5. Last and certainly not least – WEAR MORE SUNSCREEN THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED. Oh but you think you move so fast the sun rays can’t catch you? Think again!
    sunburn
    Peep the Garmin watch line

So now, after taking my well deserved and enjoyed rest days, I am getting back up heading out on a nice run and moving on to the next challenge!

Congrats to my fellow finishers – great race!

Welcome to my blog!

Alex Marianos10 Comments

Hi there! Please consider this my online, very enthusiastic welcome to my new passion project – a blog!

Welcome gif

Three loves of mine are traveling, cooking and the newest to the bunch, training for triathlons. In the times of COVID-19 I have found a bit of free, lone time on my hands. And with this, I have decided to take to the World Wide Web with stories of my adventures, successes, failures and frankly, random trains of thought.

Alex Casual Headshot

And for those of you who don’t know me personally, this is me! My name is Alex and a few fun facts about me:

1. I began training for triathlons in January 2020. My goal is to complete a full Ironman race within three years (by the end of 2023).

2. I have a lovely dog named Maverick and a fantastic husband, Anthony.

3. Traveling is what I am thinking about at least 75 percent of the time.

I can’t wait to share more about my adventures in travel, food and training through this blog with you and hopefully inspire laughs, smiles and going for “that one thing you’ve been thinking about doing for a while”. Go ahead, follow along and let’s do it!