Feeling Stronger Every Day

Yesterday I had to squeeze too much into my day, so I only swam 2600 meters at the outdoor pool in the morning, although it was another glorious day, and I totally enjoyed them. I saw 2 meteors from the Perseid meteor shower right after I woke up and walked outside! I guess seeing them set the tone for a basically happy day.

I had several consecutive meetings at work, and so I couldn't run until about 1PM, and I should have known I was low on calories from Tuesday's series of staggered workouts, since I had a sugar craving. So I ate a handful of Swedish Fish (I'd eaten 6 or 7 figs earlier) and headed out to run. In retrospect I probably should have had a can of Coke as well.

As soon as I started, I didn't feel right. I had that bonky feeling of just nothing being there to power my legs. But it was such a nice day out, that I HTFU'ed and ran almost 5 miles anyway, even though it didn't feel too great. I loaded up on calories right after, got a much needed massage later in the afternoon, ate a solid dinner of pasta and lamb chops, and got to sleep right at 8PM.

This morning, my alarm went off, and I immediately got up and went outside to see if I could catch some meteors. Sadly, the moon was too bright, and I didn't see any, so I commenced drinking a cup of coffee and eating a Power Bar to get ready for my long run. My plan called for 1:40, but I was thinking even last week that I wanted to see if I could run 2 hours just because, well, I will be running A LOT in 2 weeks. I took 2 12-oz. bottles of defizzed Coke with me to Waterfall Glen, and was on the trail by 6:20.

I made myself pay attention to my breathing, knowing that if I'm "hardly breathing" that I am actually running a nice, easy pace. I wanted to be sure I didn't go out too fast, and besides, I didn't know how I'd feel after yesterday's bonk festival. I started out with a nice, high cadence, and my legs felt pretty darn good, and I did, in fact, run an easy pace for the first 2 miles.

I then tried to just keep things nice and easy, and since I'd drunk 2 big glasses of water right before I left, I didn't need to dip into my Coke for awhile. Originally, I thought I'd go out for maybe 4.5 miles and back, but after 3 miles were gone, I figured I could just run the full loop (9.65 miles) on the 12-oz. of Coke that I had with me. And it was feeling great. I had walked the first 2 hills on miles 1 and 2, but after that I ran every single hill, and they were feeling great, just great. The weather was nice and cool and not too humid, so a perfect day for running.

When I finished the loop, I stopped briefly at my car to get more Coke and leave my singlet which I had doffed at mile 8. Usually there's something mentally in me that makes me feel like UGH when I start a second loop, but today that feeling was not there at all. Since I'd finished the loop in 1:27, I thought I'd go out about 1.5 miles and back and that would be enough, but I was running faster now, so I decided to go out 2 miles and back, and when I got out to mile 2, man I really just wanted to keep going! It was just one of those days where I think I could have run 20 miles, but I didn't have time because I needed to be at work, and besides I knew that almost 14 miles would be enough on the day.

My legs still are not sore at all, and so I am going to do a little running tomorrow, too, even though it's not called for on my plan. That will make 5 days of running in a row, about 35 miles worth, which is a solid week before my run taper for ROTPM begins. But I am going to swim 5500 meters in the morning first! That should be interesting! It will be my longest swim ever, and it's supposed to be beautiful again tomorrow.

In one respect, I wish I'd been going to do Ironman Canada, because I think I would have a great race. But in another, heck, making it through ROTPM will be an achievement, too, so all good! My massage therapist said my muscles felt like I was just really peaking now, and that is how I feel...like IMLP was the warmup, but we shall see, as ROTPM begins TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! I am excited about it and am feeling good about it now based on how this week has been going. I don't really need to swim 5500 meters tomorrow, but what the heck, I guess maybe I'm training for Ultraman already? I did exchange email with someone who coached a few finishers of this year's event, and asked him if I was an idiot to think I could do it, and he said he thought I was good to go! But I'm still not applying until after ROTPM.

I need to stay focused on one day at a time--do the training, stretch, eat properly, sleep and stay in a good mental place. I think this is about the best mental place I've been in for about 3 years--it feels to be a combination of my excited, exuberant self, but also that deeply thoughtful and quiet person that is just working towards yet another goal and trying to stay locked into integrity--which is being who I want to be.

This weekend I plan on riding 80 on Saturday and 100 on Sunday. After that, it's all taper, baby!

Good stuff, right?