It's officially in Training Peaks!!

Yep...checked today.  Holy sh!&...there it was...Sept 9th...Ironman Wisconsin.  Something about seeing it written down, as in NEXT WEEK, made me shiver a bit today!  This is really happening I thought!  Never in a million years did I ever think I would be doing an Ironman some day, let alone in less than 2 weeks!

I started thinking about what it was like years ago...before I even knew how to swim.  When I was in real estate, a fellow realtor and I discussed doing the Lake Geneva triathlon...she was going to do the Olympic distance.  I looked up the distances (I knew NOTHING about triathlon at this time)...keep in mind, I didn't know how to swim.  At all.  I saw .9 mile swim.  I thought "that's not far, I can do it".  You see, she was a few years older than me so there was no way I was going to be outdone by an older woman...LOL  We ran together a few times.  She was a swimmer in high school.  I remember buying goggles and a nose plug and getting in the pool one morning at Lifetime.  I lasted all of 6 minutes!!  I literally panicked when my face was in the water.  So I tried swimming without putting my face in the water.  Yeah, that didn't last long either.  I then set out to find a swimmer so I could do a relay.  I actually don't remember what happened, but I never ended up doing it.  Not sure if she did either...

Fast forward a few years and I learned how to swim, did a few tri's and I pretty much think I just got caught up in the whole "Ironman" talk.  I had always had friends from the gym who did triathlon, and Ironman, but I never thought I could do that distance.  Like most people, the swim scared me away.  So here I am...about to do my 1st Ironman in 12 days! 

I have so much going on in my mind...the swim still scares me.  I've swam 2 miles in open water, never 2.4 miles though.  And NEVER with 1800 people starting at the same time as me!  That scares the beegeezus out of me!  Knock on wood, I have never gotten kicked in the face in any race yet, but it just happened to a friend at Steelhead...and I pray, not me, not in Madison!  Then there are the snakes...yes, Jen has told me she's never seen any, and my friend Joe has assured me they won't go anywhere near 1800 swimmers...but I cannot get the thought out of my mind!  Hopefully I will find out exactly how many buoys will be out on the course and I will swim from buoy to buoy, just like at Steelhead.  But 2.4 miles...that's a LONG swim!

Then there's the bike.  I've ridden the distance, more than that.  By mile 96 I was saying "get me the heck off this bike!".  OK, well I didn't say "heck" but you get the point.  That is a LOT of time on the bike!!  And I still have problems pacing on the bike.  I feel good, I go out strong.  I ride with stronger bikers, I try to keep up.  I have to continue to remind myself to take it easy on Sept 9th.  When not climbing, keep the HR in zone 2.  Do NOT override this.  I break it down in 40 min segments - every 40 min I take a gel so I ride from gel to gel...LOL

And finally, the run.  Oh boy.  I have run 3 hours.  Pretty close to the "long run" of marathon training.  I've never run an actual marathon, however, I keep hearing training for the Ironman marathon is totally different than training for a regular marathon.  I'm not going into this thinking I will run 26.2 miles.  Especially since my leg's been acting up on and off for over a month...it held up for Steelhead and now it's on bed rest until Ironman.  Again, break it down...run from aid station to aid station.  Take walk breaks if I need to, or take them BEFORE I need them so I do no hit the wall.  Do what I need to do basically.

So there it is...am I nervous?  Absolutely!  I don't think I'd be normal if I wasn't.  Do I think I can do it?  Absolutely!  Is it going to be pretty?   More than likely...NOT!  So this week I continue to mentally prepare, to get organized with my plans, checklists and any other "must do's" before race week.  As Jen keeps saying...the work is done, I'm ready, trust in my plan, relax.  And let's not forget...trust her!