My Affair With Iron

This is the view from the top of a ski jump in Lake Placid

It's not right, I know. It's 3:44 am and I am blogging, drinking coffee and just waiting... waiting fro the sun to come up. I feel like it is Christmas Eve.... come 5am I will be out on my bike for a little 90 minute spin before work. Active Recovery day.

For the record I was in bed by 9 I think. It was early. Now I am awake and I can't wait to get back out on my bike.

In 7 weeks I will toe the line of my third Ironman in 18 months and the fifth Ironman of my life. I keep saying fifth and final..... for a while. I will stick to the fact that a while has not been defined.

I never in a million years expected to feel so good. 19 hours of training last week and I have not one ounce of soreness, or fatigue. Granted last week was an endurance focused week but the volume..... feels great. I feel great.

I can't pinpoint it one one thing. My Coach.... he's a damn genius. There's no magic structure.... he just knows me and knows what I can handle. I guess that's why he's my coach. My nutrition is spot on. Leslie got me on Veema.... and I can say...... wow. My flexibility is good thanks to yoga.

It's the combination of everything that we do off the field that contributes to how we feel on the field.

Mentally I am excited. I thought that about now I would dread the long, dread the training, but it doesn't feel like the last 17 months has happened at all. I think about 7am on July 20th.... the day I will be surrounded by 2000 of my favorite people and my heart starts to flutter in excitement. My IQ continues to drop but it was never that high to begin with.

God I love Lake Placid. There's something magical about it for me and I can't pinpoint exactly what. But I will be the girl with the giant smile the whole day.

My decision not to race this weekend was the right one. Instead of traveling to New Hampshire with my team I stayed home with my family and I trained in the heat. Saturday I spent 5 hours on waterslides and on Sunday we hung out at the beach. Spending time with the guys who give me so much love and support felt right. And retreating to the AC felt right too ;-)

I didn't lose a week to taper and a week to recover. I gained 2 weeks in fact. 2 weeks of focus. 2 weeks of endurance. 2 weeks of preparation.

I am not shy in spouting my goals. I would love to break 11 hours in Placid. This will largely depend on the weather, a perfect day in Placid and I will be right there. A little addition of wind and you'll see it in the times. Anything below an 11:23 on this course is a PR for me, and ultimately that's my goal. Isn't it always a goal to PR? I am not afraid to say it, and I am not afraid to miss it. There are no secrets and there are no superstitions here.

I hit the goal or I don't. It's pretty simple.

Either way Ironman is a privilege to me. It's not a right. I meet a lot of people who feel it's their right. At this point in my life I am blessed to have the support to be able to reach for this dream. I am lucky to have Curt and Luc who put up with 3am awakenings and tales of pacing. It helps Curt is also in the sport because it's a blessing to be able to share it.

In a few weeks Luc and I will travel to my hometown and compete in the inaugural event where I grew up. He's pretty excited. So he's still on training wheels, we've all got training wheels at some point.

It will be pretty special. Not because I am forcing him to be a triathlete. At 7 if you ask to do a triathlon, I will let you. I will be happy about it and I will be darn proud of it. He did his first race last year and broke his leg the day after. Maybe he will embrace it like I have and maybe he won't. A healthy and active lifestyle is what we aim for around here.

So the road continues on. For me it's toward an Ironman finish line. Then what? We will see what comes up. The beauty of all of this is that there's so much still left to be done.

One more hour till the sun comes up. I'll be clipped in and smiling.