I read an article somewhere which described the feeling of standing on the beach before the mass start as something like 'wondering whether you belong there', and I can totally see that. Me, an Ironman? Seriously? No way, right? I mean, people who do Ironman are these crazy super-athlete people, and I'm just... me. I don't *feel* like I'm made of iron. I don't feel much different from how I did a few months ago, or even a year ago. But I've done all the training, so I must be different.
Taper is going pretty well this time around, I must say. Normally I feel like crap during taper but I feel alright. Still working on the sleep thing though. Tonight's going to be an early one, I swear! Open Water Wednesday today was fun, they fired up the grill so we all hung around eating burgers and hot dogs in the parking lot after swimming. People were wishing me luck, since it was my last Wednesday at the lake before I leave for CDA. I got asked "so when's your race?" a whole bunch of times, so I got to say "not this Sunday, but next" a whole bunch of times, and it felt so weird each time!
On a not-so-good note, I had a little bit of a rough time on my last long run. It was my longest run, 22 miles, which was preceded by my longest bike the day before (118) and my longest swim the day before that (5500). Everything was going fine until about mile 14, when I started to get a pain in my left quad. I realized after a while that it must have been a cramp, which hasn't ever happened to me before. It wasn't awful, just annoying, for a while so I kept going. Then I was on my last loop with about 4.5 miles to go and it just kept getting worse. It spread through my whole quad and intensified to the point where it felt like my muscle was getting ripped out of my leg every step. But it was my 22-miler! THE big one! I couldn't quit this! It felt OK when I walked, but I didn't want to walk. It was a 22-mile RUN. I figured since it was just a cramp, I wasn't doing any serious damage to myself, so it was OK to push through. I ended up spending the last 2 miles hobbling and crying, it hurt so bad. But, me and my stubbornness finished that damn run. It took all week for the pain to go away, then on my first taper "long" run of 11 miles, it came back again. Bad news. I got a sports massage the next day, which hurt like HELL but the therapist thinks it's going to be OK. I ran yesterday and today and it feels fine. I'm going back for more pain next Monday and hopefully that will fix me up 100%. The other 2 long workouts of that weekend, the swim and the bike, were pretty uneventful. I had to do most of the bike by myself since Shannon had to leave early, but I managed OK. My Garmin actually said 128 miles, but it was reading off of my speed/cadence sensor instead of the GPS and I think its calibration is a little off. So I went conservative and said 118.
Then on Sunday this week, I got to jump in the lake with all my clothes on to fetch an errant pit bull who was intent on following a family of ducks all the way to the Northshore, it seemed.
"Who, me? Naughty?? Never!"
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"You must have me confused with someone else. I was just playing with my ball like a good girl."
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Pretty sunset at the lake
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Rough day for a swim
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Training totals, 5/25 - 5/31 (last big week; M & Th off):
Swim- 11940 yards
Bike- 133 miles
Run- 24 miles
Total Time- 16:25
Training totals, 6/1 - 6/7 (Taper Week 1):
Swim- 5380 yards
Bike- 95 miles
Run- 20.4 miles
Total Time- 10:52
Oh and did I mention- TEN DAYS?!?!
1 comment:
You are so ready! So excited for you. Those training totals from the last week are amazing. You should know that even if you don't put yourself in the category of Ironman athlete, those of us watching already have. We've seen you do what it takes to get there, and can't wait to celebrate with you when you do!!
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