5daystoglory

Well here we are! Five days to glory. I've been hashtagging the snot out of all of my stuff. and this one seems to have stuck (counting down from about 12). I'm feeling SO super excited right now. I've practiced changing tires, grabbing water on the go, nutrition, and transitions. I've made my packing list and compared it to my training runs and my transition practices. My friends and family have their poster boards and their cowbells and their directions on when to stand where and all of that good stuff. I'm obsessively checking the weather and the water temps, but other than than, I AM READY!

I may wake up tomorrow scared out of my mind, but my self-talk today has been super positive. "It will be choppy, but you have your wetsuit and kayaks and buoys and you.will.be.fine. It will be windy, but you have trained hard in the wind and you know what to expect and you.will.be.fine. It will be hot, but you will have cooling sleeves, cold sponges, ice, and your family is armed with water guns and you.will.be.fine."

Yesterday was a bit of a mess - kids had swim practice 4-5, soccer 6-7, and scouts 6:30-7:30. Somehow, Coach Sheri managed to run out the door with no ball bag and no whistle, but thanks to an enormous mouth and a killer set of lungs God gave me, we made it through. I'm thankful I was able to get my swim in early and focus on being mom (read - being two places at the same thing). Taper week seems to have hit at just the right time. Doug started a new job last week and we're all kind of discombobulated, but at least my training dropped from ~10 hours a week to ~3. I feel everything falling into place and today? I'm not scared. Today I am trusting in my training and in myself.

In other news, I've decided to race in honor of Cameron Clanton. My cousin and her husband lost thier little boy almost exactly 19 years ago. Their family has been on my heart a lot lately and as fate would have it, his birthday is race day. When I get scared or tired or something starts to hurt, I will lift his family up in prayer. I will remember how scared and tired and painful this experience was for our entire family and I will push through - not just for the sake of finishing the race, but for the sake of bringing glory to an otherwise sad day for our family. To bring honor to his memory and to my dedication. My dear friend and training buddy says I should have picked a happier memory to carry with me on race day, but this one is near and dear to me and the timing is right somehow.

So. #5daystoglory. Five days to #HIMTX #IM703TX #brasstacks. Five days until I skip, crawl, stumble across that finish line and embrace the reward that I've trained so hard for over these last 7 months. Five days until my race report.

Expectations

This is part of an email I sent to a family member today to outline what I expect race day to look like. Notice how many times I use the word expect. I see 5 here, not to mention the times I used expect that's from the part of the email I'm not sharing.

My swim wave starts at 7:48 on 4/26. I expect to be in the water for 45-55 minutes. I do not expect anyone to be there that early. That's madness. :)

I'll be out on the bike for 3-3.5 hours (expecting to be back in transition around noon/12:30). Doug and the kids are hoping to catch me out on the road somewhere down towards Pirate's Beach. I'll get him to get in touch with y'all about that as the day approaches. Or even the day of. 

For the run... There's no telling. If all goes well, I'll be headed out no later than 12:45. My typical half marathon time is 2:20-2:40. I have NO idea what to expect that to look like after 57.2 miles of extreme exertion. 

My real goal is to finish before they close the course (which is 4:45). My stretch goal is to finish in 7 hours (which will be around 3ish). 

When I finish, I expect to be in the finisher area for a bit (30 minutes or so) for medals, photos, massage, etc. after that, I intend to eat at least 6 pounds of protein and collapse into a heap. :) I would love for y'all to join us for that celebratory meal.

I have oft compared Ironman to pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Increased levels of discomfort, increased appetite toward the end, counting down the days, obsessing over every item you put in your mouth, obsessing over every tiny detail. This summary of what I expect is kind of like a birth plan. I have it all figured out in my head, but race day will likely bring a million unexpected variables I haven't planned for. I am (just in this moment) considering racing blind. Ditching the watch. Pulling the computer from my bike. Refusing to ask, "What time is it?" I know that's madness, but I have to wonder if it'd be better for my psyche to let go of all the expectations and just enjoy the day. I am confident I can hit all the cutoffs. Keeping up with the time will only serve to frustrate me (or will it...?). 

That's my job over the next 18 days. Finish the training plan strong, let go of expectations, eat clean, stay away from wine, and hydrate like it's the most important thing I've ever done. 

****I can't wait to revisit this after the big day.****

Three weeks out

While I had hoped to keep up with this on a weekly basis, that clearly has not happened. I'll be back logging some of my bigger training accomplishments during taper week (like my first 50+ mile bike ride - whoop whoop!) and some of the mind games I have played with myself over the past several weeks.

Today, I'm less than three weeks out from the big day. The hay? It's in the barn. Peak week was last week and I made it. I did a dumb, dumb thing and tried to push my rest day out 4 days to accommodate Easter Sunday, but that was a huge, miserable mistake that resulted in me falling asleep in the shower. No foolin'. I wound up taking an extra rest day to make up for the punishment I had already put my body through in an effort to avoid resting. Go figure...

Peak week also brought my first flat (and my second) in the span of a mile. Nice. I'm not sure what I ran over, but I was pedaling and pushing and grinding and switching gears and I was still. . . slowing. . . down. . . "Hey Heather?" I hollered over my shoulder. "Is something wrong with my back tire?" I had a problem with my back brakes rubbing a few weeks back and we were able to stop, make a quick adjustment, and get back on the road. "Shit. You got a flat..." Heather has been cycling for 10 years, so she knew what to do. Thank God. After we got the tube switched out, we hopped back on and had to stop less than a minute later. I don't know what we did wrong, but we tried again and this one seemed to do the trick.

Peak week also brought the realization that I am NOT ready for a full anytime soon. Peak week ended with 145 miles and 11.5 hours of training. From what I understand, a full demands nearly that much every week and a lot more as you build. If that causes me to fall asleep standing up? I'm not so sure I'll ever be ready to repeat that on a weekly basis.

It's 80 degrees here in Houston today, so I went out for a nice little jog. I was shooting for 10 and realized around 4ish that I was NOT prepared to handle 10 in this heat with no support and only one water fountain along the way. I hoofed it home and ended with 5 and some change. Another hour of hay in the barn.

That's it for my random ramblings for the day. I'm sure I'll be spewing all of my thoughts on paper the closer we get to race day. 19 days and counting!