In 16 days I will be racing long. I’m excited and nervous.
It’s been too long since I raced long. I have a lot to review and prep for. As
someone who has been “winging” her last few races, not thinking about them
until the night before, I know I have to get back to “racing long mode”.
I feel
like everything is going so well: I’ve been biking more than ever, I know my
stroke is more efficient than ever, and the run, well, the run, I don’t know
about the run.
I am healthy, strong, confident. But so many things can go wrong and I'm preparing for that.
I think I just need to do the mental training and make
lists. I’m good at making lists.
One thing that I really enjoy doing is helping my friend
Joanne through her first Ironman. I met Joanne a year ago at a race in
Granby. She came up to me to ask about my Ironman Arizona hat because she was
thinking of doing the race. We talked, exchanged emails, and are now friends on
Facebook.
In the year since she signed up for IMAZ, she has emails me many questions and concerns about her race in
November. My job is to talk her off the ledge.
She is going to do amazing.
She has raced
multiple marathons and is biking more than I ever did for my first Ironman. I'm telling her to live in the training moment.
That is the biggest lesson I have to keep learning over and over again – live in the training
moment.
Why – because as soon as the race is over, she is not going
to know what to do with herself. What’s next? She will ask herself. What do I
do with all my free time? She will be depressed.
I told her, enjoy that 100 mile training ride. Enjoy that 10
mile run because you aren’t going to be going long like that for awhile,
post-race. At least I didn’t.
I’m not sure Joanne knows how to chill out. She is a
searcher – always searching for that next thing – never satisfied. I know all
about it.
What’s next? Always the question.
I know for me, what’s next after my long course race on November 10 – El Tour
de Tucson on November 17, then the Tucson Marathon a few weeks later. Then a break and then - ramping up for Ironman
Wisconsin and getting faster. Getting more efficient. Learning everything I
can.
Now if I could just learn how to stop hitting submit.
