101 miles,9 hours.
So this was taper week 2. The last full week of training, next week is a few short sessions plus traveling, so this week really wrapped up the last significant training session. My workouts this week were mainly low intensity and a lot of miles on the bike. Everything is looking good. I had a terrible workout on thursday which I couldn't explain. Only a 40 minute run, but no matter how slowly I ran I couldn't keep my heart rate under control. However, today's run was a 90 minute run and I had a much easier time keeping my HR down. Weird, but whatever. Happens I guess. Now I'm truly in rest mode and I'm bored!!!! This next week is going to go slow!
Still a few things left to do. I dropped off my bike yesterday at the bike shop for a final tune up and to be packed up for the flight. Tomorrow I hit up REI for some last minute needs.
I can't believe I'm here. I actually go to arizona in 3 days. This week seemed so incredibly far away when I got started and now it's here. Exactly a week from this moment, I'll be doing the marathon segment of the Ironman.
I don't even really know what to say at this point. This training session has been by far the most difficult thing I've ever endured in my life. I thought marathon and then half ironman training was challenging but this surpassed them by far. Marathon training was really one tough workout per week. Half IM was a lot of training sessions but nothing very long. This was basically the toughest elements of both combined. Tons and tons of very long sessions. The training locations were brutal as well. Because the race is mostly flat I had to seek out flat terrain, which in Asheville is a very difficult thing to do. I was left with really one option for the bike, and two options for the run. I probably logged 400-500 miles on Riverside Drive, which is basically a 10 mile stretch of relatively flat terrain that I had to go back and forth on over and over again. I did virtually all my runs at either Carrier park or the Biltmore estate. The only two places I know of near me that are flat. Needless to say, the running became very dull and monotonous. Fortunately training like that has really helped build up my mental toughness to help with race day, where both the bike and run are loops that are repeated three times each. So I'm used to spending hours and hours on the same terrain.
It seems so strange to be at this week. I never thought I would do an Ironman. I never thought I could stick to the kind of training required for a race of this magnitude. Now that I'm here, I have the feeling that it's not that hard, which I know is crazy. I mean, I've done two 100 mile rides and I felt fine after. I've done several 14-15 mile runs and they too were pretty easy. I have not however, done those kinds of distances after the massive bike rides. But, my short runs following the long rides have gone well. My legs felt really good, even if my HR was pretty high. I really do believe that I'm not going to have a problem. I have trained my butt off. I trust my training and I trust my body. I trust my nutrition program. I also know that I'm going to be hurting out there. But I have persevered through extremely painful ordeals in the past. I survived a stabbing pain in my rib cage during an olympic distance. I managed to finish a run despite a torn up pinky toe that screamed in pain with every step. I survived my first half IM when I experienced horrific "man pain" around mile 4 of the 13 mile run. I know now that I can push through any pain I may experience out there. If it takes me 7 hours to do the marathon so be it. I will cross that finish line. I'm excited, confident, but still incredibly nervous about the race. I have never swam in such cold water, but from what i hear, you adjust to it pretty quickly. I'm a strong swimmer so I know I'll come out of the swim feeling just fine. My 100 mile bike rides taught me a lot, but mostly that I can do that kind of distance and still have a lot of energy left. I really think I'm going to enjoy myself out there. It's going to be a hell of a day and I can't wait to push myself to the brink. There's nothing like the feeling of pushing the boundaries of what your body can do. Crossing the finish line of a mega race is an absolutely indescribable feeling. I've had that experience twice now, each time I reached a new peak. Crossing the marathon finish line and the first half Ironman finish line. Both times the feeling was indescribable. I can't even begin to imagine what it's going to feel like to hear those words, "Josh Wexler, You are an Ironman!"
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