One week til Ironman

One week to go until my Ironman Triathlon!

I had originally signed up for this because it seems like the next logical step after running countless marathons and an ultra marathon.  I generally don't much care for biking, but I thought this would convince me to like it.

Turns out, I still don't like biking much.  And it also turns out that any fitness regimen that requires more than strapping on a pair of shoes and heading out the door is too complex for my life at this time.  Biking generally requires more time and space than exists I'm my realm.  The longest long run for a marathon will take 3 hours, and although an ultra marathon usually requires a few runs to 5-6 hours, it still seems much more do-able than gathering all the biking gear, putting it in or on my car, driving 30 minutes to a bike-friendly section of road, and staying there for 5-7 hours before heading back.  Also, there's all that black muck that gets everywhere  (and that apparently you're suppose to clean off the chain periodically... hmm.  who knew?  There's no routine wipe down of my running shoes.)

So I've been more than a little haphazard in my training regimen.  At this point, I'm just relying on sheer determination to keep me on the road and out of the med tent.

I'm well into the taper, and so today's workout was mostly just to get through both transitions and get a little more time in the water.  I generally hate being cold, and so I've been quite apprehensive about swimming in the chilly water.  I'd managed to meet up with Lezli for a swim at white point this morning.  Turns out she's not crazy about the murky water filled with sea grass - so combining her panic over underwater creatures with a nasty gash on her foot from some unfortunate hermit crab, our swim was very very short.  It was long enough, however, to prove to myself that the water won't be that unbearably cold.  I don't think I'll die on the swim.  That's very reassuring.

Our transitions went fine, and we reconvened to her house for some bike mechanical run-throughs.  So, while we tackled the tire removing and re-inflating skills that might be needed on the bike leg, Jax and Ben (Lezli's kindergartener) beat each other up with various lightsabers and Ri carried around their adorably fluffy little dog.

And although I'm going to have a heck of a time getting all this grease out from under my fingernails, I feel that I can change a flat on my bike somewhat competently.  The hardest part of it is trying not to be such a girl about the whole thing.  I keep worrying that I'll break it.  If I just forget about hurting the bike and concentrate on jamming, jabbing, torqueing and yanking with all my might I tend to do a much more rapid tire change.

So, less than a week left!  And I've still got plenty to obsess over.... there's the bento box that I'm planning to design and construct for the fancy bike I'm renting (made of fused/upcycled bubble wrap with up cycled inner tube straps..... should be quite interesting.  I'm also stressing over my profile design aero hydration system.  Turns out it's not so aero, and it's right at the front of the bike - where the bike meets the wind.  So do I get the fancy new design that IS aero, or just go with what I have?  (I've been reviewing the wind tunnel data.... I seriously need to sleep more).  I've also created and organized a list utilizing the grocery app on my iPhone to list, categorize, prioritize and organize all the gear I'll need for the triathlon and indicates which gear will be located in what bag. (there's a swim bag, bike bag, run bag for between each event and then 2 "special needs" bags that can be place at the half-way point of the bike and the run.

But on the up-side, all this excess energy is rather productive today.  For the moment there is NO MORE DIRTY LAUNDRY in the entire house.  Seriously.  I've gone through all the closets and thrown out all the too small, too old and just too much excess clothing.  Closets are re-ordered and drawers re-assigned into a multi tiered hierarchy that only I understand (you see, athletic clothes that I pull out immediately upon awakening are located in the bureau right by the bed so that I can grab them as soon as I get up.  Work clothes are in the closet where I can get them right after a shower... it all makes sense.  Really.  Don't listen to what Brian says.  He maintains that I come up with elaborate schemes of clothes organization merely to toy with him.)

Taper madness has set in...