This is going to be important as I entrust myself to Coach C.D. to train and prepare me for Lake Placid. Trust the process, I tell myself. It may not make sense why she has asked me to train a certain way but I'm going to follow it as best as I can since she's an experienced Ironman athlete and trained many triathletes to the start and finish of their first Ironman.

Recharge Ivy on ____ and with flannel. Having the stomach bug was a blessing in disguise. As much as it hurt, it forced me to take the much needed rest my mental and physically self was craving after weeks of intense exercise. I am almost fully recovered, including the pain in my hamstrings from overdoing it with the running and lifting, and the pain from the irritated rotator cuff from swimming a few weeks ago. Thank you God, you created us with the ability to heal our physical self from the inside out with proper rest and nutrition. I am so grateful for the ability to move without pain most of the the time.

As I briefly review what I'm suppose to be doing the next three weeks, I realize I'm going to train in different heart rate (HR) zones with an emphasis on some recovery, testing my limiters, setting my HR, pace and power zones, and learning to use training peaks, Garmin and relevant data. Oh boy, this is a new way of training for me; and I'm curious to experiment with it and see how effective it is to optimizing my fitness and performance.

Training with your HR zones works because it gives you greater control over your intensity and effort. If you're consistently overtraining or, conversely, wondering if you're working hard enough, training with HR zones can help you feel confident in your efforts, no matter the discipline.

Here's how this works. On a basic level, the premise of training with heart rate is that when you go harder your heart rate goes up. You can then establish heart rate zones that designate different levels of effort relative to your maximum heart rate and your threshold, i.e. what you can hold at a very hard race effort for a sustained period (30 to 60 minutes).

The rule of thumb is, zone one (Z1) will always be the lowest effort, with the top zone considered the highest intensity (Z3 or Z5). These zones also correspond with your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and with power or pace zones if you've established them using a test. My test will be the FTP test to determine my HR zones, pace and power zones.

No matter which heart rate chart or method you follow, the 80/20 training method applies. This means 80% of your training is done at lower intensities and the other 20% accounts for moderate- to high-intensity training. For example, in a three-zone training program, where Z1 is low-intensity, Z2 is moderate-intensity, and Z3 is high-intensity, triathletes who spent more time training in Z1 had better Ironman performances. If you were following a program with five heart rate training zones, 80% of your training would take place in Z1 and Z2, with the other 20% in Z3, Z4, or Z5.

Here we go. To a healthy, abundant, prosperous New Year!! Ready to take on 2022. If you're reading this, love you. Keep your wits about you. Make good decisions.

Hold on to what worked in 2021 and level up. Let go of what didn't work. 2022 is going to be epic and awesome!!

Muchas gracias to my bestie. Thank you for pushing me to be better and better on this journey called life. Anything worth having in life takes work. You know. And its knowing to take action when opportunities presents itself. As you say and I agree, timing is everything.

My latest reflections of 2021: Manifesting is not about attracting what you want. Manifesting is an awareness and an understanding that you attract what you are. What we attract into our life is a direct reflection of what we think and feel. And the only way to change our point of attraction is to change how we feel. Always be yourself. Treasure who God made you to be: Magnificent. Focus on creating the best life possible for yourself. The future is promised to no one. Make everyday count. Live with no regrets. I could go on and on... so here is your challenge, should you choose to accept:

(1) Set your intention for everything you want in life. (2) Write down all the actions you need to take to make those intentions your reality. (3) Commit to work towards these intentions everyday by learning all you can and taking all the action you need to make it a reality. (4) Track your progress and give yourself some credit when you make progress. (5) Write down what or who you're doing this all for and carry this around with you everywhere.

If you have a purpose that goes beyond yourself, a deep meaningful purpose, you will not give up. It's never crowded along the extra mile. You can have anything you want if and only if you are willing to go after it. Success comes to those who really want it. Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life. There's no scarcity of opportunity to making a living at what you love.

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