Well, here we are, 4 weeks to go! My nerves are starting to zing every time I think about the fact that I am actually going to do it!
Last week was what I am going to call the "week of unmotivation." Man it was a doozy. Now, in my defense, my bike was out of commission, that time of the month came, my youngest ran a 102 fever for 3 days and my oldest contracted pink eye. Talk about life's demotivating factors. For the entire week all I really wanted to do was sit down, eat chocolate in my yoga pants, sleep and or cry. I ran because that's what I do, but swimming? Dude you couldn't put a swimsuit within a mile of me. You know....just not my week.
My bike is still in the shop, but instead of stressing about it, I woke up this morning and decided its time to start getting amped up for the race. I'm trained. If ever there was a case for not waiting until the last minute to train, it would be mine. I'm going to miss 2 weeks of bike training, but that's okay......I'm there.
I got on the race site this morning to find some new motivation and saw my name on the participant list. I got chills when I saw it. There it is guys my name on an IRONMAN 70.3 roster. I am giddy with anticipation and seeing my name was just what I needed to go out and put 6.5 miles down this morning.
I have been studying up on my events for the IRONMAN 70.3 and today I'm gonna talk about the swim portion of the race. Most people are terrified about the swim and for me, it is the event that excites me the most. Its challenging, scary and is the event that starts it all. The swim will take me about 45 minutes (if I can swim in a relatively straight line-harder than it sounds), and it is done in the Boulder Reservoir.
I will start with my age group around 8AM on Saturday June 13th. The swim starts are done in waves so that you are only doing water battle with a few hundred people and not 1000. You get kicked and hit, you swallow water and loose your breath. It's chaotic and challenging, mixed in with scary (you can't see anything underwater) and exhilarating.
It's an open water swim and I will be wearing a full body wetsuit. The temperature of the water is usually north of 68 and south of 74. Perfect temperatures if I do say so myself. Me and my wave will wade out from the beach and go at the cannon. You can see based on the map that it is a clockwise course and my goal is to stay to the left of the buoys. Again, my time will be completely predicated on whether or not I can swim in a straight line. Open water swimming is all about learning how to "site" while swimming and keep your momentum going while you navigate your course. It's challenging. Add to it the cold water that can take your breath away and the murky water that is mysteriously creepy and you have yourself the IRONMAN 70.3 swim.
If your heart is racing a little right now.....that's normal. The water can be scary. I have trained my mind as much as my body to swim in open water and I am EXCITED to conquer this course.
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