It’s almost here. I’m
close. I’ve trained for months and Ironman
Coeur d’Alene is three days away.
Really, I feel pretty bland about it.
I finished last year and this year I’ve put in far higher quality
training. I’m really eager to compete in
the event, but getting ready to go is the tedious part. Last year I took pictures of all my
transition gear. Getting my gear ready
this year was pretty straight forward between referencing my pictures and adding
in my few new additions. I feel I’m
prepared enough physically that the rest is kind of blasé. I interpret that as a good thing.
Before I start typing like a machine I feel it’s important to
state that two people are gigantically significant supporting influences to my
training. You don’t know them, so let’s
just call them B and E (ha, they rhyme).
B is a runner and keeps on top of her training. I tag along with her training when it works
out. Most of my long runs are tagging
along with her and I wouldn’t have my running base if it wasn’t for her. E is a strong biker. We’ve logged hundreds of miles cycling
through the season. I run short and fast
workouts with her. All but one of my
open water swims have been with her. My
cycling and swimming base have been built by training with her. It’s amazing how two people can provide such
a strong pillar for my training. They
both are awesome people.
Now, let’s break it down.
Strength. I’m
strong. This is where I rip my shirt in
two and flex like Schwarzenegger. But
seriously, I did the bare minimum for strength training. For next year (no more Ironmans) I need to
work on getting my legs enough strength to spin on a bike for a few hours at a
solid heart rate.
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| My starting gear. |
Swimming. I’m a majestic
dolphin. I swam very little in a pool
this year. I did a lot of open water
swims with a max swim of 2.2 miles. I
had a terrible outing earlier this week; the worst one to date. I got a headache and I felt far less buoyant than
normal. I got out of the water and
walked on shore. Sometimes you need some
humility in a workout; I’ve never had to do that before. I bought some new goggles for this year with
a mirrored finish. Last year there was
one buoy that was in line with the sun and I could barely see it. Mirrored goggles for the win.
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| T1: Gear for my bike transition. |
Biking. My bike has
zebra handlebar tape now. What else do I
need? This year I had one ride just
beyond 100 miles that involved several spins around Sauvie Island. That day’s goal was to hit 100 miles; we
did. Another long ride was 103 miles
from Beaverton to Lincoln City and back again 80 miles after a one day
rest. My cycling has tremendously
improved this year with a huge impact from my training partner, who happens to
be pretty awesome. I’ve logged more long
rides with her than I ever would have done alone. This year I’ll use a speed and cadence sensor
rather than GPS for my bike in order to conserve battery power on my
watch. I’ll wear the bike shoes I’ve
trained in all year rather than switching to my races shoes. I know how my training shoes feel and that’s
what matters. Maybe my race shoes will
make an appearance at the Portland Triathlon in September. Last year I only had black arm sleeves. I bought some white ones in case it gets hot
this time. This year I also opted to buy
an aero helmet. We’ll see how it does,
but boy is it sexy. There are flagrant
amounts of sarcasm in that statement, but I’m sure to the right crowd maybe it’s
true.
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| T2: Gear for my run transition. |
Running. I like
running. I’m forever grateful that
running is last. I ran the Newport
Marathon at the end of May with my best bud.
She rocked it and I got some distance under my belt. I’ve done some speed workouts this year and
stayed on top of long runs pretty well.
I’m going to wear the same shoes from last year. I never broke in new shoes and I’ve decided
to stick with what works. I haven’t
logged too many miles on my Asics since last year’s race… maybe two marathons
and a couple long runs… but really only 120 miles or so in total. This year I’m going to put some calf
compression sleeves in my transition bag.
I’ll decide in the tent if I feel like putting them on or not. Other than that it’s the same old tried and
true gear. Nothing too fancy, just keep
running until 26.2 arrives.
Support. I don’t
really talk about the event a lot with people other than my close friends. People who ask about the event or my training
are actually helping. It gets me in that
mindset if even temporarily. They’re
helping me out and they don’t even know it.
It’s a big life event that receives numerous hours of training and
preparing. I try to be careful who I
bring the topic up around because some are not as receptive to it for various
reasons. The most prominent one is that
people can’t really relate. Try talking
about running 20 miles to a person who loves knitting; the two are different
fields. And reverse the situation too, a
knitter talking to a runner about their favorite needles.
The truth of the matter is that some people don’t have the
fitness/health, time, or finances to do some things. But what I wish I could cram into people’s
faces is that there is time for things.
If you want to try something just sign up or rent/buy the supplies or book
the ticket. Pounce on it like a hungry
tiger. The excuse train can chug
forever. We all won’t tackle the same
things. Even with the races and the
mountains and the backpacking, I still see a variety of people’s pictures and
think, “man, that is just awesome.” We
all have different limits and interests.
My Ironman could be someone else’s 5k… or king size quilt… hell, it
could be getting their chili recipe juuust right. But pouncing with the willingness to accept
failure is half the battle. No one will
laugh, no one will judge, what others will see is that you threw caution into
the wind and tried. If you fail, keeping
trying and fail better, and you keep going until you get to the finished piece. And then you get an overwhelming sense of
accomplishment. The little hiccup and
burp-like failures along the way make the accomplishment even better. So just don’t stop.
