Becoming Iron Again

The year is 2014, and the Ironman is 11 days away.  I have taken quite the hiatus from my blog, my apologies, but 2014 has been quite the year leading up to this moment.  Ironman Lake Placid is on the horizon again, and I can't believe the time has flown by.

I remember right after Christmas sitting with two friends and talking about the start of training.  I remember one (thanks Kaitlin) telling my my training sounds like being pregnant.  It's 7-9 months of you being tired, not drinking much, eating a lot, and being in discomfort frequently.  Your feet get swollen, you go to bed early, and you feel kind of lame.  You might not always be great at keeping in touch with friends because you don't have the energy.  That about sums up Ironman training!

I struggled in the beginning this time.  The brutal winter we had only made matters worse.  But as the weather warmed up, training got better (thankfully).  There have been many highlights, and of course stressful times.  And our new addition, Hector, may have been a bit of a distraction :)  

One of the best memories from this training year was going camp at the Olympic Training Center.  Memorial Day weekend was spent in Lake Placid at the OTC, and this was the first time an Ironman training camp was ever invited to stay there (thanks Todd P, for being the man!).  We had a blast, trained hard and ate ridiculously well.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  Being an EXSC major, this was like my dream come true.  Not only were we staying where Olympians stayed, and saw a couple, we were strength training in their facilities.  Amazing!  

I raced Philly Tri, had a swim PR, but not an overall PR.  And ran my second fastest half marathon time at St. Luke's.  I've challenged myself physically.  My worst training weekend called for a 100 mile ride on the Livestrong Century course (6500 feet of climbing aka tough stuff), followed by my second 20 mile run (on a sour stomach).  I managed to swim 3100 and run 10 miles, all on a Wed midweek.  

The bulk of the training is in.  As I began my taper last week with a 2.5 mile swim to wrap up peak training, I felt unbelievably tired.  That's normal.  But am still finding myself to be.  Sleep and rest is needed now, despite your body telling you it's not normal.  I also found myself struggling mentally.  A tough, tired workout can mess with your head, even if you are in a good place.  My long swim wasn't great, and I ran on a ridiculously humid day last weekend.  Found myself in tears over it.  But this is where mental toughness comes in, and it is all great race day prep.

You can't predict what will happen in any race, especially Ironman.  It could be hot, humid, rainy, windy.  You could feel sick, happy, sad, hurt.  In fact, all of these things could happen.  You need to be ready to alter your plan based upon what the day brings.  You train for all possibilities.  

So here I am, 11 days out from tackling No. 2.  Thank you for the support along the way, it means so much you probably don't even realize it.  I'll try to post a bit as I head up and share after.  I'm excited and nervous for the big day.  Sorry to my friends I've neglected.  I have just been prepping to be Iron once again!  #IMLP2014