Last Wednesday was one of the best days of my life. I woke up slightly annoyed with something, I’m not even sure what? Although it was probably Marion’s eighteen alarms he has set every morning that pierce with their metallic “ping” on two minute intervals from 5:10A - 5:40A. Luckily, I quickly flipped my attitude once I was up, our dark coffee was brewing, and I started smiling about the full day of swim, bike, and run training ahead of me. I was looking forward to all of it. Plus, my heart was still full from a quick, yet magical visit with my brother Peter, and his family the night before at their COVID get-a-away spot in Carpinteria, a quaint beach town slightly over an hour drive north of my house. I hadn’t seen them at all in 2020, and it was one of the most fun and soul-enriching evening I had spent all year. Thank you for having me Peter, Alexa, Kaia, and Reed!

Someone's excited about her BIG day ahead.

First up on the training agenda Wednesday morning was a couple of hours of hill repeats pedaling the 1.68 mile climb to the top of the Santa Susana pass that starts in Porter Ranch, and drops into Simi Valley. It is the most difficult portion of my iron(WO)man course, and I will tackle it during the first ten miles of the race. Since the temps had finally cooled down in LA, instead of pouring sweat for hours like the previous 100+ F Wednesday's I’d endured this workout, on this occasion it was cool and pleasant. Therefore, instead of six repeats up and down the climb, I rode seven.

Top of the Santa Susana pass with the 118 Freeway buzzing behind me.

Next up was a recovery swim, and some “race directing” due diligence. After having a scare while reading the fine print of a weekly email newsletter the night before, I wanted to confirm that I will have access to the pool at our club early on race morning. The newsletter listed the swim lanes being available at 7A, but I assumed the pool would be open for its usual hours starting at 6A? A lot is riding on that timeline. Fortunately, the swim director is a nice guy, so when I told him about my event, and requested early access to the pool, he offered to show me how to turn the lights on in order to have my toes in the water before sunrise on the second Sunday in November.

The next few hours were spent cleaning my house and reading. Thrilling.

Typically, I read one book per week, but without access to libraries due to COVID, that routine has been interrupted every few months in 2020. However, I have built a decent library over the years, so I decided to re-read one of my favorite books on Sports Psychology, Mind Gym, written by Gary Mack and David Casstevens. I enjoyed it the first time I read it a few years ago, but the timing of reading it again now is practically perfect.

I sprayed mine fields with mental hurdles for myself the last couple of years, (pressure for a better Kona debut, earning my pro card by 40, justifying my passion for an endurance lifestyle), but reading this book about how truly great athletes overcome, or rather manage their own mental struggles in sport has given me priceless insight, and a reason to exhale.

I’m not the only one.

I gave myself to 5PM to finish reading a chapter before I stepped off of my doorstep for the final workout of the day, an eight mile run with a negative split, aka, the second half needed to be faster than the first.

The last few weeks that I ran this workout it was just an eight mile easy run. Therefore, I chose my favorite UPhill/DOWNhill route, the first half moving at a glacier-like pace, and the second half bounding like my legs were on springs, which made the second half of the run easily faster than the first. Naturally, I thought running that route for this workout would miss the point, it would almost be cheating, so instead I decided to run a four mile loop twice.

The first mile of most runs are never pretty. It takes me about ten minutes to find a groove for any run, but when it is the third workout of a fun/challenging day, it could take twelve minutes. Nope. I felt light and groovy right from the start. Uh-oh. Yes, usually that would be a tremendously welcomed feeling, but when I had to run a second loop faster than the first, and the first was already whipping by quicker than usual, I was a little worried if I could bump up the pace for the second loop? Then I remembered that I am a long-distance runner, not a sprinter, pacing should be my superpower, or at least a skill, so I relaxed and allowed my pace to quicken, but held back any temptation to open it up during miles one through four.

Miles five through eight were a whole different story.

I was chasing daylight, the sun was dipping lower below the horizon by the second, which I used as an opportunity to tap into the strength and speed my legs held back on for that first loop, and flew as fast as I could through the second. I haven’t had that much fun, or felt that good running all year, or really, the past two years. Since the beginning of 2019, I have been locked in my own “running prison” of let downs, dashed expectations, and injuries, but blazing through the back half of that eight mile run broke me out of those walls, and made me realize that I am a different runner now than I was then, maybe even better, because I am not afraid to fail anymore.

I still have plenty of hefty training sessions that will be filled with highs and lows before I race my DIY Iron(WO)man event, “Taryn’s Iron Journey From The Valley To The Sea” on Sunday November, 8th, and I will no doubt encounter peaks and valleys on race day, (literally), but it’s in the doing, failing and prevailing, that I love and live the most.

If you would like to DONATE to my upcoming DIY Iron(WO)man event benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, CLICK HERE:

The song and video choice this week is a wondrous tune from a young Canadian named, Shawn Mendes.