Han't a Clue

At first, I thought it was a cold, while secretly hoping it was a bad case of reflux. It's kind of hard to tell when you dayum nose runs and sabotages your body on a daily basis. After a couple of days, it became apparent it was worse. I had the whine flu. Maybe the swine flu?! I dunno. I didn't go to the doctor.

After Sunday, and Monday, AND TUESDAY off, I ran Wednesday and then biked for twenty minutes. My body enjoyed the endorphins. It might have even helped. Thursday, I woke up feeling groggy, head not quite pounding, and enjoyed working from home. By the end of the day, I was feeling well enough to do my 45 minute bike and 15 minute run off. I even rode in the rain. It was nice and cool.

Today? I am feeling better. Almost human. My nose is doing its thing. My head is mostly clear. That means... The RACE IS ON :-)

LOL...

Dee Dee and I are headed to the Fall Creek Falls Olympic on Saturday (the race is Sunday). I'm still not sure if I am going to officially "race" it. We'll just have to wait and see how I feel Sunday morning.

Which brings us to the topic of today's post...

I was reading Alan Couzen's blog about what it takes to be a top age group triathlete. He said it takes thousands and thousands of hours to be a sub-15 hour Ironman, and the earlier you start, the better. He also said that it takes years and years to improve one's performance across the spectrum of Ironman training, in order to achieve that coveted sub-11 and sub-10 hour Ironman finishes.

This is a generality. I know that. I probably trained fewer than 500 hours for Ironman Florida, and certainly fewer than 1500 hours over my lifetime of triathlon. Yet, I turned in a sub-14 hour Ironman on my first attempt.

You have no idea how good a sub-14 hour Ironman is...

My coach told me this after I crossed the line, but it is only now that I am beginning to understand. We reach a point in our training where progress is no longer measured in leaps and bounds. As Jen Harrison said, "It takes a long time. This whole thing is a process." It takes committment, and patience, and a love and passion for what you are doing.

I kinda snuck this race in on coach. I thought we had discussed it, but evidently, I left her out of the loop. With me being sick and all, I don't really feel the need for an organized race plan. I think I am going to focus on a few things.

1. The technical aspects (good form, no dead spots, etc)

2. Negative splitting each discipline

3. Having fun

With the last one being the most important of them all. Life is hard enough. It's just a whole lot harder if you never have any fun, ya know?

Have a great weekend, everybody!! I'll see you on Monday.

Wes