ironman canada | the run

All I could think about during my 4:18 T2 was how bad I had to pee. Twenty-two miles is a long way to bike when you have to go! After the awesome volunteer dumped out my transition bag and helped me sort through my gear – THANK YOU! – I ran out of the tent as quickly as I could to a mini-biff. A minute later, I felt much better and was off and running, waving at my cheering family.

My legs didn’t feel that bad, and it felt like I was running far faster than my Garmin said. My first mile: 10:08. Um, I don’t think I’ve seen that split in, hmm, years, so that was a bit of a shock. Regardless, it was one foot in front of the other and before I knew it, I was at mile three, and I felt a slight flutter in my GI system. Some flat Coke (that stuff is magic) and a quick stop at the mini-biff, and I felt better.

ironman canada | the swim

Race morning, August 25, started out like any other: 4a alarm, gluten-free PB+honey toast, double shot espresso and last minute gear check. Thirty minutes later, friend Sonia arrived and we were out the door to drop off our T2 bags near Olympic Plaza and hop the bus to Rainbow Park.

ironman canada | race week

IT’S RACE WEEK! Not sure how that happened, but let’s dive right in…

MONDAY. Just a rest day today. We spent part of the evening deciding what to pack for the trip.

TUESDAY. Mornings swims are awesome, and I plan to continue 2-3 days a week all winter. I used a pull buoy for about half of this morning’s 1,700 yards and felt great. A quick 11.57-mile bike ride with Nick after work rounded out an easy day. It was tough to not bike farther. My legs wanted to GO!

infograph | my training stats

It’s been more than 200 days since I started this journey. I had an inkling of what was in store – the early morning swims still half asleep, seven-hour Sundays, an outrageous co-op bill – but never did I imagine just how wonderful it would be. I’m completely serious when I say I loved almost every single second of swimbikerunning to the starting line of my first iron{wo}man, Ironman Canada. And, I may already be scheming next year’s race calendar… #addict

With that, some stats from my road to Whistler…

ironman canada | week 28

ONE. WEEK. One week! The bikes are packed and en route to Whistler (the living room looks really bare!), my parents left on Friday and we fly out this Thursday. Now it’s real… and, I couldn’t be more excited!

In other news, week one of taper went well. Other than being a bit antsy to bike on Saturday afternoon (so much free time!), I haven’t had the taper crazies. It’s been nice to relax a bit, read for a couple hours straight (Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox is a must-read), clean the house, have a glass of wine (holy lightweight) and watch a movie without falling asleep 17 minutes in. You know, normal things. That said, I know post IM is going to be tough, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

So, week one of taper…