10 Reasons to Create and Rock a Fitness Challenge

Back in December 2021 I challenged myself to cycle every single day of the month to get my legs back under me and begin building my mental and physical base to kick off Ironman Training. I chose the difficult month of December because I knew how hard it was to be consistent during the holidays, special events, and less-than-spectacular weather.

Riding 31 days in a row seemed epic at first, and there were definitely days I did not want to get on my bike, especially in the pouring rain. But because I committed to this personal challenge, and shared my goal with my friends and family, and Instagram connections, I dragged myself out the door and onto the road every single day (or on a spin bike at the gym, or my bike trainer in the garage). I didn’t miss one ride, and by the end of the month I had logged 809 miles and over 14,000 ft. of elevation. More importantly though, I reminded myself that I could do hard things and indeed loved doing hard things. Mission accomplished.

• • •

Fast forward to the beginning of 2023. After successfully completing Ironman California in late fall 2022, and letting my body recover for a couple of months, I launched a push-up challenge to work on my much-needed upper body strength. Push-ups have always been my nemesis, even though I strength train and swim. If you want to read the full details of this challenge, you can pop back to my previous blog post HERE. In a nutshell, it was a simple concept: starting with one full push-up on the 1st of January and working up to thirty-one full push-ups on the 31st. To build strength along the way I also added knee push-ups and inchworms and Pilates push-ups in addition to other usual fitness exercises.

I won’t lie. It was hard. Really hard.

What made it less difficult though, was inviting my friend Emma to do it along with me. We cheered each other on and held each other accountable, and when we completed our challenge, we hooted, hollered, high-five’d and celebrated over a tasty meal at a wonderful restaurant.

When our January push-up challenge wrapped up, Emma and I both knew we still had a lot of work to do to improve our strength and form–especially getting ourselves all the way down to the ground, so we decided to repeat the same thing in February. This time I invited my friends Janet and Robert, my brothers Tim and Scott, and my sister-in-law Jess, who were quick to join the fun. Our little group plugged away each day, doing our daily push-ups on top of our other personal fitness training, sending each other photos or videos, cheering each other on, and checking in when someone got quiet. Once again, we got it done. Having a larger group made it all the more fun, especially celebrating each person with a virtual mini trophy and Rocky music.

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Week 41 of Ironman Training: Mind Over Muscle

Thank you IMAZ training for reminding me once again that I can do hard things. Yesterday I had a 6-hour triple brick workout (bike-run-bike-run-bike-run) and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it because before I even set out on this long day, I had a knot in my calf the size of a baseball. You know, the kind of knot that keeps you up at night and leaves you walking like a pirate with a peg leg. I decided to get on my bike anyway, and see what I could do, hoping it would magically work its way out. Well, you know what happened…the rest is history. Done. Done. Done. Done. Done. Done. #mindovermuscle #doepicshit(asElkeoftensays)

finalrun
It definitely wasn’t easy, but I had no illusion that it would be. I didn’t get started until nearly noon because I had a meeting to attend at 10:30. It was a late start to a long day, but I’m glad because it mirrored what race day will feel like, especially running in the chilly evening.

As all my endurance athlete friends will attest, when you’re out on the road for a long time, you get to see and experience a boatload of interesting things.

Here is just a sprinkling of what I saw yesterday:
A ukulele club performing at East Beach
A wedding
A vintage military plane flyover
A lacrosse tournament
The tiniest little guy (2 years, if that) riding his scooter in the middle of the bike path, blissfully zigzagging, oblivious that he was about to get taken out multiple times while his parents were staring at their phones
Teenage boys doing flips off sand dunes
The Vietnam remembrance wall
A drum circle
Tourists in their tourist bubbles
Surfers riding perfect waves
Drivers opening car doors without looking to see a cyclist coming (eek!)
My coach! What a surprise to see Matt’s smiling face in the middle of my second brick as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere while I stopped to snap a picture of these flowers. His words of encouragement added another dollop of fuel to my motivation. Thanks Coach!
flowersh b
A car full of teenage boys, music blaring, crossing over a double yellow line, recklessly trying to pass four cars at once (sadly, I think we’ll be reading their obits before long)
Fellow IMAZ’er, Elda Rudd, running along the bike path (so bummed we didn’t coordinate our workout!)
A street band entertaining passersby
A gorgeous sunset over Butterfly Beach
sunsetbutterflybeach
Stopping for a minute to drink in the moment.
bikebutterflybeach
People taking a bazillion selfies (including a couple of my own-ack)
Lovers embracing
Several runners out doing their long training runs
The Maritime Festival
harbor
shoreline
A group of dudes hanging out at Leadbetter, and me overhearing, “Dude, that chick has been running for hours. I saw her when we got here a long time ago.” 🙂
The wind…the #%$! wind…which I consider a gift, even if I loathe it, because it’s helping me get stronger and preparing me for race day. It reared it’s head big time on my last brick. Brrrr. Glad I had a wind jacket.
sunsetbikepath
A STUNNING full moon rise…the kind you see in children’s books…the perfect end to a perfectly challenging and fulfilling day.
moonbikepath
Good night moon.
moonrise
As cliche as it sounds, doing your first Ironman truly is about the journey. The race is one day, but the road to the starting line is hundreds of days and thousands of hours. It’s important to love, appreciate, and honor all the ups and downs of those training days, even on toughest ones. Otherwise what’s the point? I can honestly say, this journey has far surpassed any expectations I ever had. Just learning that I can bike and run for six hours with a knot in my calf taught me something new: our mind is by far our strongest muscle.

Only 35 days to go now!!

Until next time, my friends…
xo Becky

Week 35 of Ironman Training: Chasing the M-Dot with Toughness Training

Much of Ironman training is about showing up and doing the work, whether you’re feeling 100% or not. It’s about getting through aches and pains, life’s scheduling challenges and the onslaught of mental fatigue. It’s about keeping your eye on the prize, even if that prize still feels like it’s miles away.

After flying high during last weekend’s triathlon and follow-up 2-hour ride, my body was feeling it early in the week. On Tuesday my calves were still cranky when I started my 8-mile run, and then in the midst of doing intervals, I tweaked a rib in my back AGAIN. Argh. So #%!@ frustrating.

By Wednesday my mental state was a bit in the dumper. Between my back, my tired legs and many nights of poor sleep, I was definitely not sporting the title of Little Miss Merry Sunshine when I met Matt for our 3-hour hill ride. Fortunately, Matt just got us spinning. He’s wise that way. Don’t think, just go.

I may have been cursing like a sailor at times during this ride (thankfully Matt couldn’t hear me), and every hill may have felt ten times harder than normal, but I got through it–40 miles of ups, downs, heres and theres.

One thing that kept me going was focusing on the back at Matt’s calf with his Ironman M-Dot tattoo–the perfect reminder of the iron strength and mental toughness I will need to earn the honor of becoming an Iron(wo)man myself.

Matt_MDot
Matt reminded me numerous times that there would be rough moments during my race in November, and the key to crossing the finish line would be figuring out how to manage them. Practicing mental strategies to push away the demons and negative thoughts, as well as staying hydrated and adequately fueled to power on for an entire day would be paramount.

One strategy I’ve been using over these past months (including this ride) is to focus on what feels strong at the moment. If my calves are screaming, then I focus on the strength I have in my glutes or quads. If my back is angry, I focus on my abs and pulling them in tight. If my mind is whiny, I remind myself that I am living the dream I’ve wanted to pursue since I was a teenager, and this is what it takes. In other words, “Suck it up Buttercup, and focus on the joy of this journey. And always, ALWAYS remember how lucky you are to be able to do this.”

The other thing that has helped is immersing myself in several books about mental toughness: How Bad Do You Want It, Grit, and The New Toughness Training for Sports. Each is a mix of inspiring anecdotes, science, and ideas about ways to work on your mental game. They’re good reads for those who want to push the limits and see how others have approached mastering the psychology of mind over muscle.

ToughnessBooks

As I focused on exercising my mental muscle last week, here’s what my schedule looked like:

Monday: Swim 30 minutes (recovery swim after Sunday’s tri, working on technique), Strength
Tuesday: Run 1 hour 15 minutes with 5 x 5 minutes intervals in the middle
Wednesday: Bike 3 hours (hills with Matt)
Thursday: Swim 4250y with a 1000TT
Friday: Run 2 hours
Saturday: Swim 2500m (Palm Springs)
Sunday: Bike 3 hours, Run 1 hour (Palm Springs)

Here are a few snaps from the week:

I loved seeing the remnants of the transition area from last weekend’s tri as I cruised through the East Beach parking lot during Tuesday’s run.

RunChalk
I know I’ve shared this before, but when I need a mental boost, I head to my workout wall to remind myself of all the work I’ve put in so far. This time it was also a good place to elevate my grumpy calves.

LegsWorkoutWall
Then it was back to the incline board to stretch these buggers. And yes, I need a pedicure!

SlantBoard
And then of course, more foam rolling. My Zensah compression sleeves helped too.
FoamRolling
Thursday was a gorgeous day to do a time trial and a long swim! I was happy my rib/back felt okay as swimming relies heavily on those intercostal muscles.

SwimTT9116
Friday I completed my longest run to date–2 hours–12.2 miles, with one minute walking breaks every mile to simulate walking through the aid stations on the IMAZ course. I chose to run down in Carpinteria as that’s where I’ll be doing an Olympic distance tri (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) at the end of September. It was a gorgeous day, and even though I felt rushed, squeezing in this run between morning errands/appointments and picking our daughter up from school, it was awesome.

Matt suggested I run in what I’ll be wearing on race day, my Smile Train Team Empower tri kit, and consciously focus on the nutrition and hydration aspects of the run as if it were race day. Also, no music! I love my tunes when I run so this was good toughness training for me. The reason behind it is that music isn’t allowed on the course during the race. I also ran in the heat of the day to get my body more and more ready for AZ temperatures. And you know what? I felt good. One small step closer. 🙂

CarpRun9216
Labor Day weekend we loaded up my bike and all my training gear, along with our giant dog, and my very patient family, and we headed to Palm Springs to visit Jeffrey’s parents. Not only was it great to spend time with his parents, but it also provided a good opportunity to train in the heat and also continue working on my mental game.

MentalMuscleMeme
Our car thermometer read 104 degrees when we arrived–hot, but not too bad. It was 122 last time we were there so this seemed tolerable.

CarTempPS
I had a swim on the schedule for the day so I sneaked away in the late afternoon and headed to the public pool, a wonderful facility which, much to my surprise, is hardly ever crowded. My in-laws had a hard time comprehending why I couldn’t just swim in their kidney-shaped pool in the back yard, but when I told them it would take a bizillion laps, it suddenly made sense.

PSLapPool
For this swim, once again, I worked on my mental game. First of all, I nix’ed my music, which is huge, as I lean on it to distract me from the monotony and discomfort of the sport I’m still trying to fall in love with deeply. It was just me and my breath, continually focusing on staying tuned into my form and trying to relax and get in the groove. After a 500m warm-up, I did 2 x 1000m, and was happy that my time was not that far off from my time trial a few days earlier when I was really pushing it and also using a pull buoy. It wasn’t a super long workout, but it was a good one, and one I felt satisfied with without having to abandon my family for too long.
LapsPSPool9316
The next day, it was time for a brick workout–a 3-hour bike ride with a run immediately off the bike. This was another perfect opportunity to work on mental toughness as I had little sleep and it was already 87 degrees at 8:00am. The wind was also picking up.

I was looking forward to tackling some wind and heat training, but I have to admit, this wind thing rattled me. Literally.

As I headed out toward the windmills, desert grit pelted my sweaty, sunscreen-y skin. Hunkering down on my aerobars, I tried to imagine slicing through the wind like an arrow, and when a gust pummeled me from the side, I used my core and leaned into it, holding on with a white knuckle death grip. On several occasions I nearly got blown over.
WindMillsPS
I kept telling myself, “You got this, hang tough,” as I powered on, but I also knew I couldn’t afford to be stupid. If the wind caused me to veer into the car lane, which was way too close for comfort, I’d be toast. Being safe, I eventually looped around in a different direction, snapping this picture on the way. My sideways ponytail says it all. Hopefully it won’t be like this in Arizona on race day! If it is though, I know I will get through it.
PSWindyBike9416
Surprisingly, this ride went by really fast, reminding me that our bodies and minds really do adapt. Not long ago, 3 hours felt impossibly long. Now it just feels normal.
BikePS9416
Afterward I was scheduled to do a 30 minute run right off my bike, but somehow my running shoes, which were sitting right by the door when I left, got placed in our car, which my family took to do an outing while I was riding. Needless to say, this did not make me happy as brick workouts are crucial to training so your body adapts to the feeling of running right after you get off the bike.

The good news though, is that because I had to wait a couple hours for them to return, it got even hotter so I could practice running in the heat.
PSTempRun
And even better is that since I couldn’t complete my brick, I ran twice as long to make up for it. Happiness is feeling strong running 6.2 miles in 90+ degree heat with negative splits. It’s the little things. 🙂

PSRun9416
Now as I head into Week 36 of Ironman training, I will continue to focus on discipline and mental toughness training along with all the physical aspects of training. It will be especially important as I take part in the Ventura Century this Saturday, a 103 mile ride with 5226 ft of elevation–a perfect way to kick my training into a higher gear. And of course, there will be a run after that ride to simulate what it will feel like to run a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and riding 112 miles in AZ. Practice. Practice. Practice. Only 75 days to go!

Hugs to all of you and many thanks again for being such phenomenal supporters!

XO
Becky

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

	handwclo on 10 Reasons to Create and Rock…
	Becky Green Aaronson on 10 Reasons to Create and Rock…
	handwclo on 10 Reasons to Create and Rock…
	10 Reasons to Create… on Choosing Progress over Perfect…
	Becky Green Aaronson on Ironman California 2022 Race…

Run Be Run

A blog about running, triathlons and everday life…for those who are happiest being in motion and chasing after it

Tag Archives: mental toughness

Week 41 of Ironman Training: Mind Over Muscle

Week 35 of Ironman Training: Chasing the M-Dot with Toughness Training

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