And It Begins…..
So, I’m at it again. Training started yesterday for Ironman New Zealand: Race Date March 7 2015. Gone are the mornings of sleeping in until 5:30 and going to bed late at 9:30 J And I couldn’t be more excited or nervous.
Things to be excited about:
- We’re going to New Zealand!
- Kelly (BFF) is in New Zealand!!
- Kelly’s family is coming to the race site to spend the whole week with us and cheer me on!!!
- Tanner and I get to stay and explore NZ for an additional 2+ weeks with Kelly and her boys!!!!
- OK, enough about NZ and Kelly. Can you tell how excited I am about that – I’m typing faster just thinking about it.
- Attempting Ironman #2 and getting it in the books – hopefully a tick faster than IM #1.
- After giving birth to a child, pretty sure I’m invincible or at least that my aerobic capacity has increased by about 5% because of my increased blood volume – The ‘new’ blood doping.
Things to be nervous about:
- Traveling with a toddler half way around the globe – ‘nuff said
- I’ll have 3 days to be on a bike on the actual road before the race to make sure I can still balance on two wheels because I’ll have been strapped to a stationary bike trainer for all my bike riding.
- For IM #1 I trained for 6 months with a ridiculous amount of volume (time spent swimming/biking/running). For IM#2 I am training for 3 months at a reduced volume (by almost 40%) – three reasons are 1)I’m a mom and I don’t have much extra time, hence wakeups will now start between 04-04:30 every day, 2) I’m a wee bit older and need more time to recover and spend on stretching instead of training and 3) I live in the Nordic North so all of my biking and most of my running will occur indoors, in a basement, so two multi-hour rides on the trainer over the weekend will reduce my brain (and other parts) to complete mush….not good when training for an IM, when you need all the head space you can get.
- Attempting Ironman #2 and getting it in the books. I haven’t completely forgotten the amount of work and pain required to get me to the starting line and through the finish line.
- Race Start time for my body because of the time shift = 12:00AM……yup Midnight. So not that far from typical wake up time of 4 AM right??? No big deal…..
- Setting goals – My husband asked me the other day what my race time goals were…..I told him I don’t’ know . He said I was lying. He was right – but I’m scared to say them out loud…..or write them down.
So all the above being said – I’m beyond over-excited for this trip, for this race, and for this experience for my family. It is an opportunity I’m glad we grabbed at first thought, and I’m so glad that I have a husband who encourages me and pumps me up every time I come up from that basement, or home from the pool. And the voice that I can hear as I'm coming up the stairs or open my car door “Mommy!” - with that face and those little feet running so fast to get to me - never fails to keep me moving.
