I promise to catch you all up on what I have been up to the first quarter of 2021, but some of it will need more time to process and transcribe eloquently, while other parts, like my Triathlon life, we can fast-forward right up to Present Day. Therefore, on this first Friday in April I am happy to report that I am wrapping up week three of Ironman Coeur D'Alene prep.
Of course there is no guarantee that a large event like an Ironman triathlon will be permitted at the still early date in our current COVID times as June 27th, but I am allowing myself get excited about it because I did not spend any *new* money on it, (I deferred my Ironman St. George race entry, Ironman does not give refunds), and since the vaccinations are more readily available by the day, I decided to lean into hope and proposed to Hillary a few weeks ago that we should act like it was happening, and Voila! Ironman Coeur D'Alene training officially kicked off on March, 15th.
Finale #Everythingstreak 5K on 3.31.21.
Today's training is serving up a Run and Swim sandwich. The first run workout is with hill repeats, and the second will be a mellow Recovery run slated later in the afternoon after I knock out a challenging swim workout that I failed to complete properly last week. Honestly, I am not at all bothered that I “failed” hitting my interval times for the final two sets of the workout last Friday. I believe this type of workout serves as a quality assessment of fitness, and if I don’t swim fast enough to hit the intervals, then my swim fitness still needs to improve, and that's okay!! I have twelve more weeks to bump up my swim progress before the cannon *hopefully* goes off in Coeur D'Alene, meanwhile I am thrilled to have another crack at conquering the workout today.
Final day of the Biscay Coaching Summer Olympics Swim weekend - Mile for Time event.
There is no doubt about it, I am living my best life during ironman training.
It could be an official Ironman branded event, like Coeur D'Alene, an extreme “iron” event, like Alaskaman, or one of the DIY variety that I raced last November, if the physical and mental training calls for long days, high intensity, and massive amounts of calories, I’m all for it.
Naturally, I hope the race actually happens in Coeur D'Alene because I want to experience a ''real-deal" race again, but a reason that is 10x greater than my drive to compete, is that I hope it happens because I miss my people.
I yearn to feel the simpatico between fellow sweaty spandex enthusiasts again.
However, I am not hanging on too tight to the visible, yet hovering hope of a Summer season opener. I respect whatever the municipalities decide is safe, and if that means cancelling the race, so be it. Nevertheless, I am still treating every day between now and the final Sunday in June as if I need to be ready to race in top form alongside friends, teammates, and fellow 40-something women, but it's the path to the starting line that I revel in most; wearing a bib all day is just icing on the cake.
The song and video choice today is from the group Dayglow, Close to You. The video is reminiscent of the ones I shot of myself dancing in elementary school, it's adorable, and I promise it will make you smile.:)