"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Never, Never, Never Quit.

FIGHT....................FINISH

Countdown to B2B

I CAN

Monday, July 28, 2008

Biggest week yet....and roller coasters

Great week of training, eclipsing the 16 hour mark including a 70 mile bike and a 12 mile run. My long swim was interrupted by a thunderstorm but I hope to get back on track this week. After todays 2000 yard swim and 5 mile run I'm sitting at almost 53 hours for the month. I should come close to 60 hours if the weather cooperates.

July, Aug and Sept can be a little dicey as far as thunderstorms go. Since I do most of my swimming at the outdoor pool at our local Y, I'm subject to their hair trigger response to thunder/lightning. I understand their concern but sometimes they seem to go out of their way to hear thunder. For instance, last week, 2 girls were coming out of building on the wooden walk they have were skipping. The life guards cleared the pool thinking it was thunder and didn't let us back in until the confirmed it wasn't a storm, despite it being bright sunshine with no clouds in sight. The thunderstorms don't affect my runs and bikes as much. I actually enjoy the cloud cover and rain for a run.

Talking with experienced Ironmen and women, one thing is brought up across the board. Going through an Ironman race, you will experience many ups and downs and will need to face your 'demons' several times to get through. I guess it's a good thing then, that I'm experiencing some of that already in training. I've had some workouts where I felt 'cashed out' during the workout, only the recover and actually feel better later in the workout. I've also approached several workouts and felt as though I would have a terrible time yet was able to push through and finish, despite not feeling great. I realize these are not the same magnitude of what I expect to experience on November 1st, but having some experience at them should prove helpful come race day. Also, with each workout I complete, I'm feeling stronger and more confident about finishing. I've still yet to get my head around being out there from sun up to well after sunset though. But I need to compartmentalize that and just 'put the work in'. I'm confident if I do that, eveything will work out.
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