With my wedding out the way, when people now ask me when the big day is, I can safely assume they are talking about racing in Kona (pre-wedding this caused a wee bit of confusion, followed by more confusion when I asked them to clarify WHICH big day...).
Energy levels and excitement levels are pretty high by now; the body is feeling good and ready to race.
The winter has seen many, many hours out cycling and running, with some pretty iconic sessions thrown in the mix. Riding around the K2 course in torrential rain and gale force winds; big run session in the Waitakeres (in the wind and rain); hill repeat sessions (in the wind and rain); more running on our regular training loop (mostly in the wind and rain); more hill work (again, with the wind and rain)...and well, luckily the pool is indoors, otherwise that would have been mostly in the wind and rain as well...
One session Dave and I even got to see the Police Swat team in action, raiding a rural property on one of our regular training hills. Made for some interesting viewing!
Many a session started out with Candice and I huddling around the heater in her house (usually while Candice is trying to dry her socks, in order to wear them outside in the rain) wondering why we repeatedly put ourselves through this. There was much soul searching done in front of that heater! But when you get closer to your race, feeling fitter and stronger than ever, it is easy to justify why you spent the whole winter out riding and running in freezing, wet conditions while everyone else you knew was hiding indoors.
Fellow triathletes have been super supportive, providing me with many hours of Ironman viewing pleasure in the form of past Kona races, and some pretty inspirational reading material. Makes for some pretty good couch time (directly under the heat pump) after training.
My wedding provided a brief interlude into what was some pretty solid training. I did entertain the idea of trying to fit in a quick session before the ceremony, but found out this day alone is actually up there with racing an Ironman (minus the lycra). It was a beautiful day which just reminded me I am very lucky to have a husband who is so supportive of everything I do.
Two weeks to go for race day; and just days until we fly out. The miles have all been done. The time to test the body out is almost here!
