July 18, 2016
So I find myself wondering how I ended up signing up for a full ironman. I guess I should I still can't believe I worked up the courage to hit the enter button after filling out the electronic form. A bucket list race entailing 3.8 km Swim, 180 Km bike and 42.2 km run.
However, as much as my family may believe, the decision to sign up wasn't spontaneous. I'm a thinker and I don't do spontaneous well. I have to analyze and weigh out probabilities, ponder outcomes. For a stay at home mom, an ironman race is kind of pricy. Can I actually finish this epic race? I admit I had some good persuasion from some of of my fellow triclub members.
The swim doesn't scare me. I kind of love swimming, which in the end totally was used to convince me to agree that maybe I could tackle a full ironman. My friend is doing the same race and as part of her training, was doing a long swim and since it's never a good idea to swim in open water alone, no matter how good a swimmer you are, I figured I would try to do the whole distance. Since I was getting ready for a half Ironman, I had already been swimming 3 km in the pool.
So we went one loop around the lake: 1800 m. Easy Peezy. No problem. Then we started the second loop and all kinds of crazy thoughts rushed through my head. My anxiety was messing with my efficiency and breathing, not good on a long swim. Did I bite off more than I could chew? What if I cramp? What if I can't make it to shore?
I should mention that I was wearing a wetsuit and I wasn't particularly tired at that point at all. Just really fearful about my own abilities. So I thought to myself, wetsuits make a person pretty buoyant, so what exactly do I need to do to stay afloat anyways? All I had to do was a little doggy paddle with my hands. After that I calmed down and ended up swimming two and a half times around the lake. And I enjoyed it! And then there's that sudden realization I can do the swim portion of the Ironman, I just swam 4.5 km, the race is only 3.8 km.
Honestly, it's the bike portion that scares me. 180 km on a bike is a long, long time. Up until this spring I would have thought it darn near impossible for me. In fact, I thought I thought I was just a terrible cyclist. I could barely stand riding my old bike for 2 hours as much as I loved cycling. When I mentioned it to people, they said I needed to toughen up, more time in the saddle. Toughen up! I can tell you not being able to stand straight after a short bike ride is not normal, it's not being whimsy. There really was something wrong. I had the wrong bike for me.
My friend had just got a new bike and suggested that I go for a bike fit. Hindsight really is 20/20, I can tell you bike fit is everything! Thanks to Heath Cockburn and the Eleven, I have a bike that fits my build and the difference is night and day. I went from a large frame bike to a small frame bike. No more excruciating back pain. I can do a tight turn without feeling like I am going to fall over. I feel safe getting into aero position on my bike.
The longest ride I've done 103 km up until last week. My friend got me through my first 145 km ride. It's all about taking it easy, going long and steady strong, not all out.
The run will be what it will be, one foot in front of the other and moving forward. I have run since I was young and I love it. I've done Disney's Goofy challenge a couple times now (1/2 marathon one day, followed by a marathon the next.) and I know what's like to run on tired legs, one kilometre at a time. Don't take it all in at once. As long as I can keep going, I'll get there. The mantra I have held to the last couple years while participating in races and dealing with my sore back. (So glad to have my new bike, it's like night and day. My back is happy now.)
I've decided to write about the experience since the Ironman may be a one time occurrence. Not that I likely won't want to do a repeat performance, I like half ironman races and I'll probably want to do another one. That's just how it goes. The half marathon was on the bucket list and then it became the marathon and why not do the Goofy race and do a half marathon one day and a marathon the next? Then it became a half ironman and not just any half ironman, I did Muskoka with it's crazy tough bike course twice. The bucket list evolves as I find out what's out there in this big wide world. Up next this summer is my first ultra race. It's human nature to push boundaries, but I like to do it reasonably, lower risk, proceed with caution, well considered and trained for.
It's the time it takes to train that has me wondering whether I will do one again. With 2 children and a busy household, time is a precious commodity. It was a challenge to squeeze in a 5 3/4 bike ride followed by a 45 minute run and the next the long bike ride is 7 hours and hopefully 180km plus! Not to mention, it's fun just to relax in summer and play with my kids. I want them to enjoy their summer too and I still want those blissful beach days with them. It's a balancing act between mommy time and finding someone to spend time with them while I am working out so I can be an athlete too. (Big shout out to my awesome husband, Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa)
It takes a huge support team to get ready for an ironman race and it helps to be part of a really great triathlon club. There's nothing like sweating out some speed training on the track in 30 degree weather or getting in a 30 km run with a friend. Camaraderie, triathlon may be an individual sport, but it's definitely easier to get to the finish line when you know that you have friends experiencing the same race somewhere on the course or waiting at the finish line cheering you on.
