Many of you know one of my greatest joys is coaching kids running teams and sharing my passion for the sport with the next generation. I love paying it forward, empowering young runners and motivating them to see themselves in new ways.

I’ve been doing this for over four years now with a program I created consisting of about 1/3 running and fitness, 1/3 motivation and inspiration, and 1/3 sportsmanship, team building and “life.”

I’ll admit it has been a little tricky pulling it all together this season in the midst of training, but it has always been worth the effort. Last week I zoomed into practice with just a few minutes to spare after riding nearly 50 miles and doing a half hour transition run. Fortunately, since I know I have to be hyper-organized this season to pull it off, it all magically came together. They had a blast and so did I. This little band of happy feet inspires me to no end and lifts my tired dogs ten feet off the ground.

One of the things we talked about was our Word of the Week: JOY. I typically choose words like determination, courage, goals etc., but JOY is something I’ve been thinking about a lot while I’ve been training, so I wanted to share it with my kids.

I try to find joy in every workout I do, not matter how hard it is or how challenging the day is in terms of terrain, weather, timing, fatigue, logistics. etc. Sometimes I just find joy in the fact that I “get” to do what I’m doing or that the blasting wind is helping me get stronger, or I find joy in the fact that I’m doing something really hard that a lot of people would never attempt.

I wanted to remind my athletes to always try to find JOY in what they’re doing while they’re doing it, even if it’s hard or monotonous. I gave them several ideas of how they can do that with running, school work and even chores around the house, and they also came of with several of their own, which as you can imagine, gave me tremendous JOY. 🙂

The other thing that gave me tremendous joy last week was knowing that I’ve reached the highest point of my training for the entire year. HOLY PEAK WEEK BATMAN!!! I’ve made it in one piece!!! So freaking exciting!!! Now it’s time to taper, recharge, and fine-tune everything for race day. Booyah!

Here’s what my schedule looked like for the week of October 24th-30th…

Monday: Yoga/Pilates, Swim 5000 y (2.8 miles), core
Tuesday: Run 6.25 miles, core
Wednesday: Bike 3 hours, Run 30 minutes (transition run), core, run with my kids team
Thursday: Swim 1750 y with a 1000 TT, Run 8 miles, core
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Bike 1 hour, core
Sunday: Swim 1.5 miles, Bike 70 miles, Run 16 miles (metric Ironman distance) postponed a day due to rain :-(. I’ll be writing about this whopper of a workout soon though! Instead: 1 hour stretch class and 700 y swim.

Here are a few snaps from the week:

Tuesday I ventured to the track for the first time in ages. I wasn’t doing speedwork, but I wanted to run a couple of miles on a soft surface before hitting the road for the remainder of my run. It reminded me how much I love/hate the track, and how I’m looking forward to getting back to it after IMAZ.

Not a bad place to cool down and stretch…

And then more core work…bridges…

100s

Wednesday’s 3 hour ride was gray and brrrrrrr, making it a little hard to get excited about it.

Here I’m finding some joy in the fact that I had to stop and dig out my sunglasses because the sun finally came out.

I also found joy in the fact that I got my transition run done in time to get to my kids running club in time.

Thursday I was a little (ok, a lot) whooped from six days in a row of working hard, so I had to dig for some motivation to get my butt out the door for my 8-mile run. As I’ve mentioned before, whenever I’m dragging, the first thing I do is head to my workout wall and remind myself that I’ve done all these workouts in the past so doing one more won’t kill me.

Then I get silly. I think I need more spinach!

Then I don lots of compression items and make sure I wear bright colors to make myself feel cheery (even if I’m not, and even if I look ridiculous).

Yeah, I was definitely fried at the end, but I got it done by practicing some of my mental tricks (mantras, visualization, etc.) and also reminding myself that the next day I had off to rest. It also brightened my run when my friends, Tami and John, happened to drive by and stop to cheer me on. So unexpected on this sleepy back road!

Friday’s rest day was AWESOME, especially because it rained!!! So refreshing. Loved it. Mother Nature timed things perfectly too, so it cleared up on Saturday for my ride. I thought I was going to luck out on Sunday for my Epic Day, but when I woke up at 5:30 and saw pouring rain, I decided to postpone it a day and go back to bed to get some much-needed rest. I did my Epic Day yesterday, and Epic doesn’t even come close to describing it. More on that one soon.

In the meantime, the countdown is on…only 19 days to go until I’ll be swim-bike-running through Tempe! And only 12 days left to raise more funds for Smile Train. If you’ve been thinking about donating, but haven’t pushed the button yet, today is the day to do it! You have the power to change someone’s life for the better, and there’s nothing more exciting or gratifying (at least in my book).

Here’s the link to donate: BECKY’S SMILE TRAIN PAGE. Thank you Bartholomew Family for your recent generous contribution!!

Until next time, awesome peeps. I hope you find JOY in all you do. Happy November!
xo B

 

PS: As always, if you missed any of my previous posts about Ironman training, you can click on the links below:

Kicking off My Journey to Ironman Arizona
Week One of Ironman Training: Believe
Week Two of Ironman Training: The Power of Friends
Week Three of Ironman Training: I Think I Can
Week Four of Ironman Training: Progress
Week Five of Ironman Training: Wind at my Back (and Front) and Peeps by My Side
Week Six of Ironman Training: Baking a Cake
Week Seven of Ironman Training: Courage
Week Eight of Ironman Training: It’s All About the Base
OMG, You did WHAT?! (AKA Sleep Deprivation + Training = Embarrassing Moments)
Week Nine of Ironman Training: Growing Pains
Week Ten of Ironman Training: Trust
Week 11 of Ironman Training: Speedbumps and Breakthroughs
Week 12 of Ironman Training: A Bundle of Sticks Can’t Be Broken
Week 13 of Ironman Training: Spring!
Week 14 of Ironman Training: Rollercoaster
Week 15 and 16 of Ironman Training: Staying Happy and Healthy
Week 17 and 18 Ironman Training: Inspiration and Purple Rain
Weeks 19 through 21 of Ironman Training: Transitions
Week 22 and 23 of Ironman Training: Holy Epicness…Julie Moss
Week 24 of Ironman Training: Consistency is the Key
Week 25 of Ironman Training: Embracing New Challenges
Week 26 of Ironman Training: Hills, They’re What’s for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
Week 27 of Ironman Training: Taking This Show on the Road (Tri-cation!)
Week 27 of Ironman Training: High Altitude Tri-cation
Week 27 of Ironman Training: High Altitude Fun Continues
Week 28 of Ironman Training: Rocky Mountain High
Week 28 of Ironman Training: Finishing Aspen Strong
Week 29 and 30 of Ironman Training: Rollercoasters, Crazies, and Comebacks
Week 31 of Ironman Training: New Heights
Week 32 of Ironman Training: 100 Days to Go
Week 33 of Ironman Training: The Art of Recovery and Balance
Week 34 of Ironman Training: The Magic of Firsts
Week 35 of Ironman Training:Chasing the M-Dot with Toughness Training
Week 36 of Ironman Training: Miles of Opportunities
Week 37 of Ironman Training: IMAZ Training Camp and Tempe Tri Race Report
Week 38 of Ironman Training: Much to Celebrate and Carpinteria Race Report
Week 39 of Ironman Training: Why I Tri and Try
Week 40 and 41 of Ironman Training: Think Like a Dog and Train Like a Mouse
Week 41 of Ironman Training: Mind over Muscle
Week 42 of Ironman Training: #533 is Savoring the Last 23 Days Until IMAZ