199 days?

Early last week, I clicked on the Ironman Lake Placid website, which is equipped with the coolest little gadget, that counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the start of the swim on race day.

It was at that moment that I came to the realization that I no longer had over 200 days to train - at that exact moment, there was the faintest flutter in my stomach. I think somehow, seeing that number click over to 199 made the endeavour all the more real, and it kind of consumed my thoughts during my first day back at the office.When I mentioned it to my colleague, she said, '199 days? That's not long at all, you know!'. Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but hearing that set my teeth on edge. In my heart, I knew I had a plan, but what I really wanted to say to her was, 'Oh yeah, well, we planned our wedding in 6 weeks flat, from engagement to 'I Do' and if I can do that, then I can do anything'... True story.

So by Sunday, I had successfully completed all of my prescribed workouts, seven over the course of six days.  In total, I logged approximately 7 km in the pool, several hours in our basement torture chamber, with my bike, treadmill and freeweights, capping it off on Saturday with a two and a half hour group workout involving a snowy (read: mucky/snotty) run, then an hour spin, on bikes with quite possibly the most uncomfortable seats known to man, followed by a spot of weights and stretching.  On Sunday morning, the plan called for a long distance run, just for good measure.

It seems kind of exhausting when you look at it all bunched together in a paragraph like that, but I can honestly say, I feel none the worse for wear so far, in fact, it was kind of a relief to start into the routine that I'd really been craving since the off-season began. I went to bed last night knowing that I had started off on the right foot, and while I had to be in the pool at 6am, I found myself looking forward to it, the start of week two.

No one told me, however, that the pool I'd chosen resembled the Don Valley Parkway at rush hour during the very early mornings. Given my workout plan, I had chosen the medium speed lane to start my workout, and rather than moving comfortably with the current of other swimmers in my lane, I spent the morning hitting the feet of other swimmers, and now and then feeling the odd graze of someone else's toenails at my elbow, and yes, 'Ew' is the right reaction to that. By the end of the workout I'd migrated into the faster lane, and was happily moving with the current, rather than risking impalement by toenail. Ok, I promise, that is the last swimming story for a while.

So now, with 194 days, and just over 8 hours to go, I'll see you next time.