I can’t believe it’s finally here! Race week! This journey started on September 4, 2013. The day I registered with Meghan, after convincing myself I liked hilly bike courses and would take a gamble on a first year event.
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| My ironmani. |
In looking at my daily mile stats from September to now, I’ve run, biked, and swam a ton! Even though my official training didn’t start until May, the ironman was always in the back of my mind. I’m pretty impressed with these numbers, because getting in that much cycling and swimming for me is a big deal.
Swimming – 137 miles
Cycling – 2,786 miles
Running – 1,347 miles
And because I was feeling extra number geeky today, I counted up the hours I’ve spent specifically training for Ironman Chattanooga, starting in May (20 weeks, not counting this one). In total, I’ve trained 221 hours. This puts me at an average of 11 hours per week. Do I think I should have done more? Nope. I honestly feel as though I did the best I could with working full time, balancing a life, and getting in as much training as I could. I’m going into this race feeling as though I did the very best I could. I’ve learned a lot about myself and how I’d train differently in the future IF (notice that “if” is very large) I ever decided to go after another full ironman.
I’m really excited for this weekend and this is probably my last post until my race report. If you want to track me, I’m number 912. I cannot thank everyone enough for the support and cheers along the way. It’s been a long training cycle and I’m thrilled to be able to toe the start line on Sunday. I’m so grateful for my health and that I get to do this sport. Race day is a victory lap.
I leave you all with this young man that I happened to catch on Good Morning America today as I sipped my coffee. I may call him to come to the race start to get us all going. I’m going to keep smiling!
So exciting. I am going to be stalking you and Nick's FB all weekend for updates. You've got this! You've trained and are ready. I know you're going to rock it. The next time I see you, you'll be an Ironman!!!!
I agree with Nanci, I'm totally going to be FB stalking you all this weekend. Good luck! I know you are going to do great 🙂
You are going to rock it! You're amazing!
Girl you know you're going to crush it! I'll be tracking you, too!
This one will earn you a massive gold star!
Good luck!
I remember when we were only online friends and you were signing up for this madness. You're going to do awesome, remember you used to only think a half was on the bucket list 😉 Eat all the little debbies.
You are going to kick so much ass that it's not even funny. Like for reals. And I can't wait to track you!
It's go time! The hay is in the barn, time for the victory lap. Have you ever looked at the Cast Iron club? I don't have the numbers handy right now, but if you trained and raced for the distance of 30 ironmans in one year then you're cast iron already. I think your numbers are pretty close! Have a safe trip up there, and yes, I will be tracking on race day. Good luck!
GOOD LUCK! I cannot wait to read your recap. I know it is going to be full of good things!!
start slow, finish fast and keep smiling. got it. 🙂
Best of luck! You will always only have one FIRST Ironman and your experience will be so very special! Take it all in! All your hours of training and hard work will shine through! I look forward to reading all about your experience and this inaugural race!
I hope you have a good, restful and stress-free week! Sounds like you're ready and gonna kill it on Sunday!
You made it!!!! The hard work is behind you – time for a victory lap! I'll be tracking you and cheering for you. ENJOY!!!!
So excited for you!!!! You've done the work and now it's time for the reward. Can't wait to hear how it goes.
FYI – after you get that kid to be your personal cheerleader and motivator, can you send him my way?
WooHoo! Rock it!
So incredibly excited for you! I wish I could be there, considering you know, I was your half IM sherpa. It would have been cool to be your full sherpa. I will seriously be there in my brain for ya. You will do amazing. I feel it in my loins! Good luck and I will be tracking you between breastfeeding, spit ups, naps and play time. 😉
Happy Thursday!!! Thinking of you & sending positive vibes your way. Stay Strong!!!
So very excited for you, chica! You've done the work (and a lot of it!), now it's time to reap the rewards! Best of luck this weekend! I'll be tracking and cheering for you all day! xo.
So SO Sooooo excited for you! Embrace it all! Enjoy the trip, the weekend, the race, the glory of it all. You have worked so hard and now can celebrate all of that- it was all for this weekend and you are going to rock it! Hugs!!