What Was I Thinking???

So I looked at the calendar and realized that there are less than 8 mos until the Ironman - what the f*&% was I thinking? When I actually contemplate what's to come I get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach - the upside - I've told so many people about the race there's no way I'm backing out - I'm just having some brief panic attacks wondering about my sanity...

I have made some progress (kind of) since my last post...Last Sunday I actually rode 61 miles....yes 61 whole miles...thanks to Brian from Cycler's Cafe' for sticking it out with me. It was a cold and hilly course but I made it without too much problem...I did have to walk up a couple of hills - one because I didn't switch gears right & one because I just couldn't make it up:( Maybe next time. The only downside - I got a terrible blister in a place where people just shouldn't get blisters! I ordered new tights & am contemplating a new saddle. That is once experience I don't want to repeat.

I swam a whole 200 yards today nonstop - yes I know the IM is closer to 4000 but for me this is real progress...I actually swam a total of 1250 yards but took 15-30 second breaks at the end of every 50 yards. For 1 set of 200 yards & a couple sets of 100 yards, I made myself swim without breaks. My goal is to add 100 yards to this non-stop swim each week. This way I should be able to actually complete the distance freestyle...I can swim all day doing breast stroke but seem to have a mental block on freestyle.

I also ran 10 miles this week. This was my longest run since the marathon back in October & was done on a whim. On New Year's Eve I called Kelly to see if I could talk her in to running the Hangover Classic 10 mile race. After some prodding, she relented and agreed to meet me the next morning - and what a cold morning it was! Kelly even sent me a text telling me how cold it was & that she kind of hated me! The temp was in the low 30 & we had 20 mph winds. We were both pretty miserable but finished the race around 1:38. Not too shabby since we agreed to treat it as a training run.

So - I've completed my first week of real training in the new year & now have just shy of 8 mos to go. Hopefully I can keep of the progress without too many more panic attacks. I just have to take a deep breath & remind myself that 2 1/2 years ago I didn't think I'd ever be able to run 26 miles either....