Getting Through the Hard Parts

I have to say, in all of my fantasies about IRONMAN never did was I able to conceive of the feeling in my body that this level of training would generate. I have at times vacillated between a sense of euphoria and strength I have never before known and the feeling that I have actually hit a brick wall in milliseconds. Thankfully the average of these feelings leaves me most frequently with a sense of awe and determination that I can get over the brick wall and an acceptance that I will continue to be tired.

This weekend Trina and I experienced some really tremendous workouts together. Our 50 mile ride pushed us to the brink with an unexpected series of long rolling hills. We took a new ride and we were unaware of the hills until they were on us like white on rice. Ordinarily this would be fine, but we had just finished the tour de blast and were, well, tired of hills. But we rode on.

Our 15 mile run was fun and we worked every mile to take control of our bodies and the mileage....and it worked! We operated like a well oiled machine to get one another safely and successfully from mile 1 to the final 15th mile. Our trip included a mix of concrete and bark paths and one quick stop at home to get our camelbacks off and our waste packs on. We learned that camelbacks are TOO HARD to run with....but that water packs around the waist are a god send in the 90 degree heat.

Last night, after recovering by consuming my weight in food and water, we shopped for our weeks groceries and planned our workouts for the next week and month. The distances that we have planned out (based on Meg's experience and coach and the million books that we have read), are certainly doable, and they are TERRIBLY scary. Not scary like "I don't want to jump out of this perfectly good plane", more scary like "oh dear god I have to go up THAT mountain on my fixed gear bike?" But we know that we have felt this way before and that we will likely feel this way again. This is the psychological part of our preparation, right?

As for our groceries, we are focused on increasing our consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables every time we eat anything. We have also included a menu of whole wheat pasta dinners with vegetables for the week. Protein sources include turkey, fish and chicken this week. We will begin juicing carrots for Trina in the mornings to help get her calorie consumption up with foods she can tolerate with the intense schedule.

We can hardly believe we are 9 weeks from race day. After so many months and years of dreaming it is incredible to see the date approaching so quickly. We love this and fear this simultaneously. Bring on the armor...we're going deep!