Ironman Training phase 2 begins... Jamie still out of town... eeks.

My training program is divided into three ten week sections -- the base phase, the build phase, and the peak phase.  Since I had the March marathon I jumped into week 8 (base phase) and it wasn't too bad.  This was my first full week in the build phase.  Holy cow.  And this is only phase 2.  I was on spring break so I had time to do things while my kids were in daycare -- there is no way I could have done this week of training otherwise with Jamie out of town. 

Total amount of training this week:  14 hours.  That is a little higher than what was actually in the plan but since I can't get long rides in on the weekends right now I did one on Monday and one on Friday.  I did my long runs on Saturdays intstead.  Today that consisted of taxi-ing Susanna around in the jogging stroller to swimming lessons and the grocery store (broken up, yes, but I still got in ten miles.) 

I'm still so conflicted on cycling.  Once I get out on the bike I'm glad to be out there, but I'm always stressing out about things that could happen when I'm out by myself (car accidents, flat tires, etc.)  The "build" phase has mostly 2.5-3.5 hour rides, which is probably still workable for these last ten weeks that I'm working.  The final phase calls for 3.5-6 hour rides, which will mostly be when school is out. 

The timing was the whole reason I chose this Ironman.  There is  no way I could do that many hours of cycling every weekend and still be a mom and work full time.  No way in the world.  Marathon training peaked around 10 hours total running a week -- much different than the 20 this plan calls for! 

Will I ever do this again?  Who knows.  It is more work that I anticipated.  Marathon training never consumed me.  I felt like this week, triathlon training consumed me.  Perhaps when I get get the bulk of these workouts in before 7 a.m. (when Jamie returns) it will feel differently.  The time of the day makes a huge difference.