Ironman Augusta 70.3 - 34 Days to go

Well, we're coming down to the home stretch! If you've followed this blog for awhile, you'll note that I've not been posting everyday. Part of that is that my training has slacked off... It's not stopped, but the triathlon last weekend required a bit more recovery than I expected... both mentally and physically.

I did get in some good workouts last week, just not as consistently as in the past. I've worked hard to get in two workouts a day and right now I'm doing good to get one good one. I'm planning to bring it up a notch during the coming week.

How do people train for the full Ironman when they have jobs, families, church, etc that all seems to compete for your time? I've read that many who train for a big event like that put other things to the side. I'm thinking a lot has to do with your goals.

My goal is to finish the 1/2 Ironman healthy, and ideally with a smile on my face. I believe I could do that today and I'll be in great shape to do that in a month. I thought all I'd need to gain during this time is endurance and work on my speed. The reality is that I've needed to learn to care for myself and to pick myself back up when I get discouraged, and to get some rest when I'm feeling worn down, and a take some time before a race to wind down from the workouts. These are great lessons learned that will serve me well.

Meanwhile, I did some great reading this week. Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers recommended the book Born to Run. I ordered it off Amazon and just finished it. It's amazing and I may put it up with the book Slow Burn as my all time favorite running books. The book starts with the question, "Why does my foot hurt?" and delves into the mastery of running by ultramarathon distance trail runners, including the Tumahamura Indians of Mexico. If running is so bad for your knees and feet, then why can these runners run barefoot or with sandals over 100 miles and smile? I have a long way before I could do anything like that, but I did do 7 miles this morning and had a blast. Last weekend when I did the sprint triathlon, it was like that on the bike... just fun like I was a school kid.

That's my goal. I want to do the race in a way that's fun, playful and healthy.