At 16 weeks to go until Ironman Arizona, my husband had another great week of training. In addition to what was on our training plan, I did a 4,000-yard swim. And instead of the three-hour ride we had on our schedule for Saturday, Craig did a 102-mile ride solo. I was off doing an interval ride with a group of girls called the KaBOBs (Kick-ass Babes on Bikes). It was so much fun, and it was nice to push myself on the intervals. But I felt a little substandard when I found out how far Craig rode. He has done so well in his training this year; he is going to have an awesome race. It is an honor to train with him (and fun, to boot).
In the midst of our training this week, I was also thinking about our friends who were on their way to Lake Placid to do the Ironman this weekend. They are finishing up their run as I type this, and it’s so exciting. But I have to tell you, it makes me nervous. I’m not nervous for them. They are all in great shape and I know they will kill it. I’m just nervous at the *thought* of doing an Ironman. Just to imagine being there… And it makes me even more nervous to think about how nervous I’m going to be in 16 weeks. But it also makes me feel inspired. There’s a part of me that knows I can do this. But there is also a part of me that knows I don’t have a clue what kind of mental challenges or other challenges I will face that day. There’s only so much you can prepare for; the rest is dealing with whatever you can’t prepare for. In the meantime, I’m going to tell myself that it’s just a really long training day… on which you might get kicked during the swim, you have to make sure you don’t draft on the bike, and you will probably find out about the limits of your digestive system on the run. I can do this 🙂
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