11 weeks to go until Ironman-CDA. Seems this year’s training calendar is going so much faster than last year. I’m already feeling self-inflected pressure to hit targets for myself, most of which are a product of sheer paranoia vs. reality when I compared last year to this year in terms of miles, heart rate, and fitness.
I took it easy during the week to gear up for a big three-day push this weekend. 4500 swim on Friday, 85 bike/3 mile run Saturday, 16 mile run this morning. Status? Good. Very, very good (for me anyway). Feeling a few more nicks and strains that I’ve been able to manage and recover from. My tweeked Achilles seems to have cleared up (I attribute this to ice + Five Finger shoes that I wear during the week.)
Dropping weight from 204 on Jan 1 to sub-190 now is working really well too. Diet has been more focused on lots of winter and leafy green vegetables plus quality protein. Fewer Clif Bars during the week as snacks – replaced with apples, nuts, and other fruit. Dropped refined sugar altogether minus the occasional yogurt and dessert, vs. last year with regular helpings of ice cream at night.
I’ve had a few conversations with myself about race day – what if it’s rainy, cold, windy, or all three? What if I just don’t have a good day? Will that all be disappointing? I’m aiming at 11:59 or under this year – 6 months of training for 60 minutes of time. It’s difficult weighing respect for Ironman – how every race and day can differ – and achieving a very specific public goal for myself. In the end, it’s a journey. Don’t know how many more Ironmans I’ll do after this one. IM-Canary Islands is very intriguing for its difficulty, IM-Australia and IM-New Zealand for their locations. But there’s other stuff too – riding across the country in 2012, Ultraman, 50- and 100-miler runs.
But for now, I’m 11 weeks out, feel good, and will have my next “where am I at?” on April 30 at the Napa Valley Half-Ironman. I finished at 5:52 last year. I figure if I can get sub 5:30 this year, the > 11:59 is indeed in sight. Fingers crossed.