Here we go again

Tomorrow will be yet another attempt at becoming an Ironman. For those of you who don't know (which I'm not sure I have any readers who don't know this information) this is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of bike riding, and 26.2 miles of what they call running...it's more of a shuffle for people like me though.

This year has brought many struggles for training both environmentally and personally. We had a long cold winter here in the northwest which lead to copious amounts of snow even up until two weeks ago. Yes, I said two weeks ago. This has made it difficult to get in the long training days that I put in last year outdoors, but no excuses, I could have gotten it done, I just didn't. That coupled with finishing up a degree in school, trying to be a parent, planning to marry boysmile, and packing to move to Texas, these have all kept me fairly busy. My heart problem has been difficult to figure out too and I think when I'm done with Ironman I might see about going to a cardiologist. (This seems backwards doesn't it? I don't want anyone telling me I should be doing what I'm doing though. Strange. This is going to be great to read if I die tomorrow. Depressing.) No excuses though. In the end, it's my fault that I am where I am.

Here is my estimate of what I will be able to perform tomorrow. For what it's worth, here we go:

2.4 mile swim: 1.5 hours.
112 mile bike: 7.5 hours.
26.2 mile run: <5 hours.

I would be happy with these times. Hopefully I will be a bit faster than these times, but this is what I'm allowing myself this year. My goals are to not to panic in the abnormally cold water and drown, stop less on the bike than last year (<5 times to pee), stop less than five times on the run to pee, and to run a sub 5 hour marathon. This does not seem fast to many people and I realize this, but coming off of a bike for seven hours, a five hour marathon is a comfortable pace for me. I'm not a superhero, I'm just a human getting to the finish line. I can't wait to see the finish line tomorrow. I want to be completely exhausted when I get there. Not one step before and not one step after. Then I will know that I put all I had into that race. I can't wait.