....that's how long we have until we will hear the sound of the gun fire to begin our first 70.3! (1.2 mile swim; 56 mile bike; 13.1 mile run, or a half ironman distance)
I guess I'm a little backwards, usually these blogs are started at the beginning of the training and describe the path to race day. Well, race day is tomorrow!
We signed up for this race last November. Once you register for something like this, it doesn't leave your mind. You can try to postpone to all-consuming thoughts as long as possible, but they're constantly in the back of your mind. We had a great summer schedule that included several "training races". Things didn't exactly go according to plan as I developed a pretty bad arch injury that prevented me from running more than about a mile without extreme pain. Imagine running with a broken big toe...In fact, that's what I thought it was, and I figured it would just heal itself eventually, that's reasonable, right? It wasn't until I went to the physical therapist for a completely unrelated issue (sprained back from a skiing accident, haha!) that I mentioned my sore toe and he discovered a whole treasure trove of scar tissue that had developed from continuing to run when the tendons in my arch were so tight. Well, long story short, after a lot of physical therapy, rest, massage, and frustration, I was able to work up to running about 60 minutes again (with 30 second walking intervals dispersed in there). Needless to say, this summer was filled with a little too much disappointment, and too few races than I would have hoped for.
In our build up, we did run one half marathon, Star Valley Half Marathon, which was great fun. We love that race for the beautiful landscape and the enthusiastic participants. I had hoped to not be so injured for that race, but Tyler and I both did pretty well considering our lack of preparation. Tyler even picked up another trophy for placing in his age group. Earlier, he had collected a cash prize for coming in 3rd overall in the Lavender 5K (I scored a silver medal for my age group). But those two races were our only running races of the season.
We've gotten more into biking this year, and that has seemed to be our focus throughout the summer. Early in the season, I completed a torturous 65-mile, women-only bike race where I faced hurricane-like weather. Since then, we have spent many a Tuesday nights on group rides with the SBR cyling group, which has done a lot to improve our technique and ability. In fact, we've fallen so much in love with cylcing, especially with this team, that we have signed up to join their race team for the upcoming season. Our biking accomplishments were topped off last weekend where we placed fifth in our category at the LOTOJA (a 206-mile race from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, WY which we did in a 5 man relay team).
And that brings us up to date. Our last big race of the season. What we've been thinking about and preparing for (although less than adequately) for the last several months. It is amazing to me how this goal has consumed every aspect of my life. In the last week, my thoughts sound something like this: What should we have for dinner tonight, well we are 6 days out, what does my body need 6 days out...How many miles should I train today, well, we're 5 days out, how long will it take to recover from any given activity....Should I go jump on the trampoline right now, well, we are 4 days out from race day and if I land wrong I could have a sore ankle....Should I stay up late tonight watching TV, well race day is 3 days away, I should start stalking up on sleep now....2 days til race day, time to change the types of carbs in my diet...How much beet juice should I drink...Gotta go buy and cook some food to fuel with throughout the race... The list could go on and on.
This is what I love about this sport. The commitment, the dedication, the drive, the fear and dread, and the pride and joy.
This is what I've been preparing for. This is the moment I've been waiting for. And this is the opportunity to see how far I can push my body.
Race Day Tomorrow, wish me luck!
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