It's official!!!

I am officially an ironwoman!! Too tired and delirious on a plethora of junk food to do the full wash up right now, but had to confirm it is complete and managed the under 6 hour goal. 

Wow

I wheeled Monday into her bay and actually teared up when I saw this...

I like my number too!

The morning of the day before...

Ahhhhhh....

Food prep ..

Packing ...

Disaster one - spare O2 canisters are MIA...

Red dot focus

Wow just three sleeps to go. Though predicting sat night will be equivalent to a half sleep. Such a manic week at work haven't had time to contemplate - though did get some butterflys after my sister sent through a pic of the countdown! 

Last little jog this morning akin to riding up the champs d'lyse, a victory trot around the tan with my possie, though it did actually felt like an effort, trying really hard to trust this taper process but it is hard. On the upside there are lots of carbs to consume and water to be drunk.

Monday is checked and my preventative flat tyre preparation complete, fingers et al crossed that is not an issue. 

Fuel plan revised and just made up my best yet effort of power balls, almost motivated to start riding just to eat one...almost! 

So with some red dot focus I'm off to bed!

Ridiculous

From unfair to ridiculous. Tired levels are as if I had actually done the event! On top of that I feel like every muscle hurts and like I've gained 5kg! Seven sleeps and counting. 

Unfair

Unfair, awake at 5am on a designated sleep in day! Finally back to sleep and woke up few hours later feeling worse, unfair! Forced myself out for a mini run and felt like I was in slow motion, unfair, not to mention the swooping swallow! I think it must be a little bit like my theory that more sleep breeds sleepiness, hence less training equates to lazy town. I must remember to listen to my head and not my heart for the next week, potentially good general life advice?! Last unfair, out all day with the drinking masses and no drinks for me, though that is completely self-induced unfairness. Off to dream about post race ice cold beers!! 

Milestones

So I have made it to Week 15 of my 16 week training plan. Raise own right hand, bend at elbow, pat on back. I have to say I’m already a little bit proud and a whole lot tired.

 
Speaking of 15, this year marks 15 years of my love affair with running. Of course I had run prior to that, school cross country (propelled by the unfeeling Mrs Kimpton who is probably still a feature of many girls’ nightmare) and sport like most kids. However, not only was the effort despised, it was often interrupted with walking and always seemed like a chore. What I wouldn’t give to see the expression on Mrs Kimpton’s face today (my PE teacher for seven years), to tell her of my progression, weight loss and efforts of the last 15 years.

That first ‘real run’ is still clear as day. Urged on by a new uni acquaintance I hauled myself around Princess Park, managing the full lap without stopping. It wasn’t a pretty site but the feeling captured me. Inward satisfaction, self-control and an awakeness that made everything else in life seem a little easier. The back straight seemed to go on forever, the slight incline past the pond felt like a mountain and the tree that marked the finish point like the end of a marathon. But that was all it took and I was hooked. That park was influential for me and was my rock until I learnt to run for me anytime, anywhere. It was a safety net; the distance, the familiarity and the other people plugging away. If you told me at the end of that lap that I would go on to whittle that lap time down to a 13min something effort, run two marathons, subscribe to Runner’s World magazine monthly and consider buying a new sports bra over jeans, I would have laughed in your face. But I’ve now spent more of my life running than not and I feel like it is part of my fabric. The running leg of the half-ironman is the least of my worries, in fact I’m practically jumping out of my skin to complete it!

Operation List

I am a list person. Lists clarify my ticking brain and give me a locus point. Top of today’s ‘to do’ list is the creation of several other lists in race preparation. Operation List is a tangible task to assist me in the psych out of tapering and the impending race: A revised training schedule to stop my twitching body from doing more than is necessary, a nutritional list to hold me to account and remind me to hydrate, a packing list (want to circumvent the disaster of the Lochness Marathon and neglecting to pack a real sports bra!) and of course a miscellaneous list of anything else that might just need a list e.g. really got to finally tri out those damn tri laces!

Tapering, where science battles with psychology and 14 weeks of body battering. A bit of googling and my original taper plan has been slightly modified. Felt a bit guilty about yesterday’s effort (60km ride, 8km run, 2.3km swim) but then discovered that most people operate on a 10 day program. In fact, I found out that most taper programs recommend keeping some high intensity efforts to jog the muscle memory. Still, the doubt factor was there this morning and I kept having to check that my legs hadn’t been replaced with solid concrete stumps. In a really strange way these two weeks are going to bring completely different challenges than the last 14 weeks.
 
Right, according to my list there is much more to be done today, but at least I can now cross this off. Yes, I have been known to add something to a ‘to do’ list after the fact to then be able to enjoy the satisfaction of crossing it off!