Obsessing begins

This week I began obsessing over every last detail - worried the bike will be too much of a challenge, or that we haven't prepared enough. Worried about getting kicked in the head. Worried about - everything. I spent several hours on Tuesday pouring over any and every piece of Lake Placid recon I could find - race reports (I love how some of these people say they are "slow" and have IM times of 11 hours and under), tips from coaches, etc.

I've only had one Ironman-related nightmare so far (and that was a few weeks ago) so I hope that's a good thing. Last time I dreamed Wayne made us do a Practice Ironman the last week before the race "just to make sure we could do it." Hopefully that will not happen!

As a pre-empt for the inevitable post-Ironman depression, on Tuesday I signed up to run the Richmond Marathon on November 11. My dear friend Ryan will be running her first marathon, and I'm going to accompany her! Ryan is traveling to Lake Placid next month with her husband and baby, and I can't wait to see them.

Mon 6/26 - off. No stretching, or exercise of any form (other than walking!). Walk to Lauren's house two blocks away for dinner - and got a ride home. Feel pretty good considering what Sunday entailed. Left leg a little sore from where it spasmed at the end of the w/o, but other than that, I felt great.

Tues 6/27 - swim 2300 m at lunch. As always, supposed to be more. Feel like crap for most of it, and spend entire time worrying that swimsuit is going to fall off (you don't want to know). Swimsuit is being retired ASAP.

Weds 6/28 - lunch: core training and stretch. After work, rescue bike from mechanic (yet again) - I am definitely getting my money's worth from that 5 year service policy! Though it's likely that at this point I think they probably just spray some shine on it and stick it back on the rack and tell me it's done...

PM: Spinerval at Kezar- 5 sets of 15 minutes on the bike trainer and 10 minutes running at "AT" (aerobic threshold). The official workout was cancelled, so it was Alex, Kristen, Kim, the Johns, and me. I under-estimated the length of the workout: I'm not sure why adding a 15 minute spin and a 10 minute run times five was so difficult, but after we started I realized this was going to be a two and a half hour endeavor, and I had one gel. Oops. We called Wayne DURING workout to see if all these runs are REALLY supposed to be at AT, but he doesn't answer (probably watching TV laughing "hahahahha, those suckers" or something) (just kidding, Coach Wayne!). HR actually skyrockets pretty easily (still not recovered from Sunday, I guess), so runs are all at AT anyway. By the end, it was 9 p.m., all the lights had come on at the stadium, almost everyone had gone home, and we were getting some weird looks. But come to think of it, we get the weird looks in the daylight, too. Total ride about 20 miles, total run 6 miles.

Thurs 6/29 - lunch: Forgo aquajogging, contemplate walking to Stanford Shopping Center, and decide it is too far (have to take back terrible cheap Nike watch that exploded off my wrist one evening at the pool - I've been cleaning my desk and actually found the receipt!).

PM: terribly hard spin with M2 - could barely revolve the pedals. Get called out for skipping class last week - he tells me I can come to the Wednesday class if I have to miss it. Well that's good, except I didn't KNOW on Wednesday that I would be tired on Thursday....

After spin, 50 minute run with Megan - we ran from Crunch to the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Finish workout at 9 p.m. for second day in a row. Enjoy dinner of bananas and cereal before passing out. This is getting rather like "Groundhog Day," only without Bill Murray.