Am I an Ironman?

17 hours 09 minutes 27 seconds

That's how long it took me to finish my Ironman race last weekend. But I finished before midnight so Mike Reilly called me an Ironman, I got a FINISHERS cap & shirt and a medal and had an amazing finish with minutes to spare. But... www.ironman.com has me as DNF. Again. Fuckers.

If you change the swim start then you should be changing your clocks too so that athletes aren't having to do the fucking math all goddamned day. If you make us do the rolling start then you should have your clocks telling us OUR time when we cross a timing matt, not the time you pick. I could have gone a bit faster if I had known I was so fucking close but not quite there.

This is my new friend, Sean. He was the last person to cross that finish line and even though he finished after midnight he still got a medal too and Mike Reilly called him an Ironman. Its not fair that we're being ripped off.

Im pretty angry with IM right now. I'm going to have to spend another $700+ to do it again. And train for another year. FUCK FUCK FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK.

Just 5 Days to Go

In 5 days I'll be out on my bike on the Ironman Coeur d'Alene course, hopefully heading into the hills. We're supposed to leave here in 2 days and I haven't even packed yet, I've only gathered together a small portion of the things I'll be needing.

Last year I fretted over packing, freaked out over what goes into a gear bag ~vs~ a special needs bag. I packed everything & repacked, again & again. I'm sure this year I'll forget something important because I'm waiting till the last minute.

There are only a few things I know that I need to purchase, some minty Certs and a new nose plug, maybe some new ear plugs. Yes, my head leaks, yes, I've tried to learn to not need them, no I can't swim without them. After 5 years of trying I know I need them.

I'm going through all the taper things, being bitchy, emotional, irritable. Plenty of self doubt going around here.

I do not fucking want to train for another year.

I'll be swimming with Windy this evening & hope to sell my old Zoot wetsuit while at the lake. I was hoping to sell a scooter & a couple sets of jump standards but those people are flaking out. I might not have any money to buy a finishers jacket and that will suck.

Good news is that the weather is supposed to be about PERFECT.

Taper week

I have 13 days until my race. This morning I woke up, not knowing what kind of exercise day to expect, since I didn't check my schedule last night.  DAY OFF!!  So I'm going to get some work done around the house, maybe clean the barn.

These last 2 weeks have been crazy. I worked 33 hours two weeks ago, then just a couple shifts this week but they were midnight-4am and one midnight-9am, those KILL me. They totally ruin any training plans I might have.

I did have a few good workouts. On Tuesday I swam 2.5 miles at Wildcat Lake, first time ever to go that distance. I was exhausted afterward and scarfed down a sandwich Windy brought for me. but I got it done.

My wetsuit wasn't on right and I fatigued my left arm/shoulder on that swim so the next day I had planned on 100 miles on the bike but due to arm/shoulder pain (it hurt just being attached to me) and Barbara backing out at the last minute as riding partner for second half of the ride, I didn't ride.

Weekly totals for June 3-9
Swim: 6 miles
Bike: 52.6 miles
Run: 4.8 miles
Total Time: 9:30
Total Distance: 63.4 miles

I am now officially in TAPER mode and even though I wasn't last week, I'll call that a pre-taper week. This week I'll still be putting in just as much or more hours working out. As long as I DO it and don't get called in to work. I'm only scheduled for 2 shifts, one of which is done for this week.

 

Sad news: My Timex watch is beginning to fail me and I'm afraid it isn't going to Ironman with me again. The buttons wont work and the timer has decided to start/stop of its own free will. I can't have that! If I think I have 5 hours left but really only 4, I'd never make it. Just cant take a chance like that.

 

Horsey news:

Wifi survived a week of training with Kate & she's going back for more. I'd love to have her in training for a month, living there, so she gets 5 days a week.