Day 4 - done and done

The final day of this madness. I'm back at work now posting this final update. The picture here is of the swim start Sunday morning with all the tri camps out there doing practice swims. It was actually sunny and nice out that day, a once every 20 years weather phenomenon for Lake Placid. Liz, Justin, and I did a 2.4 mile swim which even included the short beach run between laps to simulate the actual race. My times were just as slow as my last swim, pretty much confirming for me the course was long. I swam easy and just concentrated on my stroke and getting more distance with each pull. My arm turnover was slow in favor of long, gliding strokes - just sort of cruising effortlessly through the water. It was quite relaxing actually. If I lived in Lake Placid I would do 2 things: first I'd build a dome over that entire dump so I could control when it did and did NOT rain, second...I'd swim that swim every single day, it's that nice.

After Liz and Justin finished up their swims we all did a long run together. By now it was around noon and getting pretty hot out. No one except Liz wanted to do the run. Justin and I were tired and I think Liz just wanted to see the run course. I thought Liz and Justin would drop me on the run but they ran a little slower and I ran a little faster so it all worked out in the end. By now I had a lot of miles in me and my quads/hamstrings/calfs were all slightly twitchy...feeling like one of them would seize up on me at the slighest wrong move or miscalculated hard effort. Luckily, nothing on me broke and I had a good run, replacing any bad memories on the run course with happy ones. Justin and I ended the run at just over 12 miles (2:10) and Liz did an extra 1.5 or so on the out-n-back along Mirror Lake. Personally, after 4 days of this crap, I had reached my limit.

I felt better as the days progressed. Like on the Spain trip, your body reaches a theshold of pain at which it does not get any worse and you just maintain your work at that constant pain threshold. Ironman is a lot about breaking down false barriers and continuing on when your body says no more. I think once you break down those barriers they are down for life, you just need to let your heart remind your body who is in charge and then everything abides. I had some cobwebs and weeds growing around my barriers and this 4 day session helped clear them out. I'm not well trained in the sense of having sustained weekly mileage under my belt but I am mentally ready to overcome the challenges I am about to face in 4 short weeks. Out!