And Here We Go Again!
Even though there wasn’t that much to do today, the day flew by. In fact, the last few days have flown by. I haven’t had nearly the time I expected to think about where I am, how I got here and reflect on the last 12 months.
I am a whole bundle of mixed emotions right now. Excited, nervous, anxious, ready, not-so-ready. Most of all though, I am thankful. Thankful for the opportunity to write this tonight and to line up in the lake tomorrow morning. I’m thankful for my health. Most of all, though, I’m thankful for the friends and family (that’s you!) who have – and always do – support me in all these crazy things that I love to do. (As I’ve hopefully made clear tons of times, I could not have done any of this without you. Hopefully you understand my absence at special events, my mood swings and everything else you put up with.)
I’ve been posting training updates at the end of every month this calendar year. Below is the summary of my training since January 1, 2008.
Swim: 144,314 yards (equals 82 miles)
Cycling (outdoors): 1,445.0 miles
Cycling (indoors): 66:20 (hours)
Run: 470.34 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 40 sessions
Approximate monthly total training time: 290 (hours)
Weight: 164.0 pounds (weighed yesterday)
Even though I’m trying not to make comparisons to last year, I have to make a few. In the end, even with those few weeks in March and April when I had to take it easy, I trained nearly as much from January 1 to race-day in 2008 and I did in 2007. I trained 20 less hours in 2008, but I think my training, especially during the last two months, was more meaningful than my training in 2007, so I’m not worried about that. The biggest difference was my swim volume – last year I swam more than 50,000 more yards in training for the Ironman. That’s nearly 29 miles! We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but I’m not that worried about the difference in swim volume – I feel like I retained my speed , the question is whether I still have the endurance. I rode outside almost the exact same amount (1,441 in 2007 vs. 1445 in 2008). I spent about 10 less hours on the trainer this year. Whatever. I think I worked harder on the trainer and the road this year than last. Thank you CompuTrainer! I ran 30 miles less this year (500 vs. 470 = 6% less). On the other hand, I did run that little 50 miler last year. Again, who knows what all this means, but since I keep track of it and I’m thinking about it, I figured I’d write it down for posterity sake.
I’m in the process of shutting down for the evening, making sure everything’s in order and getting ready for an early lights-out. I’m not sure how well I’ll sleep or how much, but I’d like to try. Thanks for continuing to follow along on this adventure. You’ll be hearing from me again soon. I’m looking forward to it!