The bike and gear bags are dropped off; tomorrow is the big day. It’s agonizing being here so many days before the thing actually happens, trying to get in workouts and organize my shit and trying to stay off my feet (which is impossible).
training stuff
The bike and gear bags are dropped off; tomorrow is the big day. It’s agonizing being here so many days before the thing actually happens, trying to get in workouts and organize my shit and trying to stay off my feet (which is impossible).
I can tell you one thing about triathlon: it is really expensive. Like, _really_ expensive. I walk around at Ironman Arizona, and it’s Zipp discs as far as the eye can see. $6k bikes, fancy wet suits, $300 bike shoes; everything is expensive. Just the race entry itself is quadruple the money I had ever spent on a race entry in my life, and this is also the first time I’ve ever even _flown_ to a race.
It’s Ironman week, and I made it to Arizona. It’s Wednesday night, and I’m tired from hauling multiple bags and bikes through airports with a bunch of crabby triathletes suffering from taper temper. Racing sounds fun, doesn’t it?
I went for a 9 mile “lunch” run on Wednesday; I think that’s when shit started to feel real. Not even a month ago, 9 miles was my Sunday long run. Last weekend I blew away my previous long run (12 miles) and ran 15. Not without consequences however; my knee and calves were not happy about the situation and have been tight all week. But then I ran the 9-miler without a problem. I no longer understand what’s going on with my knee so I just run and hope for the best.
I will admit this has been a very overwhelming couple of months; I wouldn’t say that I’m struggling to get through each week, but … yeah I’m struggling to get through each week. Not specifically with training, but just with life, which can have obvious ripple effects on training.
I was in Sunriver last weekend, and regardless of the weather, had a big ride to do, and a big run. When I left Saturday morning for my 80 mile ride around Mount Bachelor, it was 37 degrees, and large dark clouds hung in the horizon. I didn’t even bring a coat.