I have been interested in triathlon for years, but did not garner up the guts to register for my first one until five years ago: the 2010 Omaha Triathlon. As this was the event's first year, the only distance offered was Olympic. I would need to swim 1.5K (a little under a mile), bike 25 miles, and finish with a 10k. The race was slated for the end of July so I ended up buying a bike a couple of weeks beforehand. I borrowed my dad's bike rack for the car and did a couple of practice rides, one of which resulting in a crash that scared the living daylights out of me (still have a fancy scar on my knee from this). Anyway, with a bruised and scabbed up leg, I finished my first triathlon that year. Ever since, I have kept Ironman in the back of my mind.
The next year, I headed to Oregon for Hood to Coast in Oregon which is a 200 mile relay finishing in Seaside. Three of the twelve people on my team were Ironman finishers. Up until this point, I have never actually met anyone who was an Ironman. I was in awe of these ladies. I was pretty sure that I could complete the swimming portion, but biking 112 miles and THEN running a marathon? It sounded impossible. The Ironman was for athletes in a completely different category than myself.
As the years went on, I watched so many Ironman videos on YouTube. Someday. Someday I would do that. Maybe.
Last May, after such a hard year, I decided that although the timing wasn't great, I would do a half. I would swim 1.2 miles, bike 56, then run 13.1. Even this seemed out of my ability range. Together, Philip and I trained throughout the summer. We both successfully completed the distance last August. I was proud of myself, but still...70.3 was a stepping stone. It was a confidence booster for my big goal. Ironman was still there. Though I'd done the half, I still didn't believe a regular person like me could do the full.
Fifty YouTube videos later (give or take), I was ready to sign up. I decided on Ironman Florida, which takes place in November, because of the flat bike course. I am not, and probably never will be, a good biker. Nor do I do not particularly enjoy it. Thus, this race seemed like a good choice if I were seriously going to attempt this. Anyway, I registered for the event exactly a year beforehand. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to say next year? It is easy to tell yourself that you will put in all the work, but a lot of times, the reality is different. Sometimes your bed is just too comfortable at 4:45am.
After a disappointing spring and a two week break, I started training for Ironman Florida in the middle of June. Although I had spent plenty of time on my spinning the past several months, I had not gotten onto my bike since last August. I wasn't sure how far my first bike workout should be. Maybe 40 miles?? I ended up doing 50 miles relatively easily and followed it up with a 4 mile transition run. I felt great. So great, in fact, that I didn't think it would take me until November to train.
I pondered. I checked the race calendar. This is when the idea to go to Boulder was born. Ironman Boulder was August 2nd, six weeks away. Could I successfully train for an Ironman in six weeks? I crunched some numbers and decided it was possible. The main pros that I considered were the proximity of Boulder (7ish hours away) AND that the whole thing would be done before I started back to school. Although I do not typically work on Fridays, it was still going to be tough to train with an almost full time job, two young children, and taking classes towards my Administrative certificate. The main cons? The short training timeframe and the fact that Boulder is at altitude. And the bike course contained 5000 feet of climbing. Was I crazy enough to try this? I decided that I was. I didn't fully commit until June 26th after I completed an 80 mile ride. I told a few people, but kept it a bit quiet in case I failed.
In the next few weeks, I built up to an hour and a half of swimming, a 100 mile ride, and a 19 mile run. The last of my "real" training (if you can even call it that) was finished by the second week of July. Philip and I went to Vegas for a few days and while I was able to get a short run in and a couple of sessions on the spin bike, I didn't do any long runs or rides.
Fast forward a week and I found myself eight days out from Ironman. On Friday, July 24th, I found myself hit by a nasty GI bug. Initially, I wasn't too worried. These things usually pass in a day or so. Only this one didn't. I found myself SO sick over the course of the next few days that I started to wonder if I'd even be able to toe the line of the Ironman. On Tuesday, I finally went to urgent care in Lincoln. I hadn't eaten anything substantial in days and couldn't keep anything in my system. I was miserable and incredibly sad. The doctor who saw me just happened to be the medical director of the Lincoln Marathon. Thus, he understood exactly what I was going to ask of my body on August 2nd and told me that while I might be feeling better by then, the Ironman was most likely out. He prescribed me a medication which made me feel better.
Philip and I had planned to leave the next afternoon (Wednesday) for Boulder. I felt a little better, but decided to see how I felt on Thursday before we left for Colorado. I was still eating bland foods and felt very weak. Walking up the stairs was even hard. How was I going to do a 140.6 mile race??
On Thursday morning, we decided to take a shot. Starting my training over for Ironman Florida sounded terrible.
You would think that this is where my problems ended. Oh no.
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| 5000 feet of climbing at 5000 feet elevation |
Let's hope that's true.
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