I remember the good old days, when running a marathon meant I got a little time off. I remember a time when I got to kick back, relax, and enjoy the time it took for my fatigued legs to recover from the grueling 26.2. But, this time around, no such luck. I quickly learned that, when one is training for an Ironman event, "time off" does not exist. So, after the marathon, I jumped right back into training. My coach was kind enough to grant me a little bit of recovery time, in that I did not have to run immediately post-race, but everything else was fair game. Thus, I was back in the pool three days after completing Utah Valley, and back on the bike one day thereafter. In fact, since the marathon, and my last post, I've participated in two Olympic-distance triathlons, one Century ride, and have spent countless hours on the bike, in the pool, and pounding the pavement. It seems as though my entire life revolves around Ironman. When I'm not working, I'm training. I leave the house before dawn most weekend mornings, and don't return until late afternoon, exhausted and chaffed. My social life has disappeared. My husband feels abandoned. I've become an absentee friend. This is the summer of Ironman; everything else had had to take second place.
When I started this training, I had plans to write weekly updates to document my training progress. But, as this summer and my training have progressed, I've realized that: 1) I'm just too tired to write, and 2) there isn't much to write about. Let's be honest, you all would get very bored very quickly reading detailed descriptions of each and every training ride. No one needs to read multiple entries on how tiring riding 90+ miles is, how my bum is bruised from all the time in the saddle, and how I'm beginning to despise every form of energy food. Because that's pretty much how I can sum up my training thus far.
That being said, I'm also impressed with how well my body is holding up. I haven't been taken out by any strange illness. I haven't gotten shin splints, or stress fractures, or any of the old injuries I suffered from in my early days of distance running. My only complaint is that my left toes keep popping out of joint, but with a little help from my amazing chiropractor, Joseph Hummell, and Denver Community Acupuncture, I'm keeping the pain at bay. I'm not losing massive amounts of weight, and think I have my nutrition fairly well dialed-in. And, even though my muscles are constantly fatigued, I can tell that my body is becoming stronger and my endurance is improving. As nervous as I am about the actual event, I think my body just may be blossoming into Ironman material.
Now, I'm less than four weeks away from the event, so the worst of the training is behind me. Of course, the 140.6 grueling miles of race day still looms in my near future, but I think I'm ready for it. All of the time I've put into training haven't been for naught. Each and every workout has been carefully planned to prepare me for race day. So, I just need to tough it out a little longer. My chance to prove that I am an Ironman will be here before I know it.
