I LOVE SUMMER

Summer always ends too soon for me. It feels like it just got here and now it's already Fall, Back-to-School, and Football season.  AND - just 3 more weeks to IM Washington 70.3!  The race is on September 22.  I have one more week of intensive training and then we will start to taper.

I had a "freak out" moment last week. I have been in denial a bit about time moving forward and in my head it was still the beginning of August - so lots of summer left, and lots of time left to prepare for my race.  Well, imagine my surprise when my coach sent me an email stating he had laid out some workouts for the next few weeks before we start the taper..... ACK!!! TAPER????  It's not time for that yet - IS IT??? Well, my head immediately went into "I'm not ready", "There's not enough time left to get ready", ... basically I was panicking because time moved forward. 😀

I did not immediately recover from that shock/surprise.  I had a breakdown the other night and told Pat I was tired, I didn't want to do my bike ride the next day, and I don't know if I can do this. Pat has ALWAYS been my biggest supporter and cheerleader- he immediately said "Yes you can, I know you can do it"!  💕And then I got on my bike the next day and rode 67 miles! 😀

It has taken me about a week but I am now living in the present and I am telling myself positive things - "I am ready!", "I can do this!".  And if you followed me on my other IM journeys you know I have a thing for all the Rocky movies! So I have been humming the Rocky theme song over and over during workouts, during the day when I start to feel panicked, and just driving in the car.  It is weird - but it motivates me, helps me turn negative thoughts to positive thoughts and decreases my anxiety about the race.  I also keep hearing Rocky's coach - Mickey - "YOU'RE GONNA EAT LIGHTNING AND YOU'RE GONNA CRAP THUNDER!"

What Else

My achilles has not bothered me at all since before the Coeur d'Alene race so I am extremely happy about that. But, it did set me back. We took the running progression slow over the past couple weeks.  We dropped all the way back to just a 3 mile run, then 4 mile run, then 5 mile run, then 6 mile run, then 7 mile run, and an 8 mile run earlier this week. Tomorrow I will do a 9 mile run (which is where I was when the achilles problem started). And then build to 11, 12 and finally a 13 mile run as my longest run before the race. The build is going fine - no achilles problems at all but I can't help think about where I could be with my running if the injury had not occurred. 😟 SIGH!

I feel extremely confident about the swim and bike portions for this race. I have worked hard on the bike this summer with lots of distance rides, and hill workouts! I am strong and ready for the Tri Cities course. 😀  But, the run will be hard and will probably include a lot of walking. So I am trying to stay positive about that but it is hard.  Really hard.... I could use some help/advice here from anyone who has some thoughts on this. I know I need to have positive thoughts but how do I keep the doubt and negativity from seeping in? Or what do I do when it does seep in? This is my biggest stressor right now - I'm stressing about the run, and stressing because I am stressing about the run! It's a vicious circle! HELP!

Ok - Enough of that!

I think I need to have a ROCKY movie marathon over the next few weeks. 😄