State of the Union

Let's investigate the state of the union between my mind and my body, with 30 days to go until the Victoria Half Iron ...

As you well know, the winter and spring this year were devoted to running in preparation for Big Sur. Unfortunately, with Big Sur out of the way, my mind said, "All right! Time to switch from slow and steady to quick like a bunny!" The retort came from my body, "What's your stinkin' rush brain?! I like 7 minute kms!! Leave me out of this 'fast' crap." I'm a few weeks back into training now though, and the body is finally starting to react. The heart rate can be brought up again when I start to push and last night I hammered out 9 kms at 5:00 pace. That was faster than my planned race pace since I can't hold it for 20km off the bike (Victoria is only a 20 km run instead of the standard 21.1), but at least the legs were willing and the rhythm felt great. I think the run is going to be fine.

In addition to the running, we managed to get a fair bit of swimming in over the winter as Fastlane never stops. I haven't really gained any speed this year since swimming hasn't been the focus, but I haven't lost anything either. The distances are feeling easier and easier and I'm reasonably certain I can knock out a pace between 1:45 and 1:50 per 100m over the course of the 2km swim. I've also got Andrew racing in my age category since I age up this year, so I might be able to just grab onto his toes and draft the whole thing!

But then there's the bike. Sweet, sweet Felicity. We've missed each other this year, haven't we? It's not that I've been ignoring you on purpose, it's just that the marathon instilled the utmost fear in me, and really, there are only so many hours in the day. I missed you, if that's any consolation. With time clearly running out, I've been trying to make up for all of the missing rides, but it's rather difficult to build as quickly as I need to at this stage. Last week I knocked out a 50km ride with Curtis on Monday and then Captain Pants and I threw down for 65km Friday night before heading off to Vegas. As she alluded to in a previous post, it damn near killed us. So, with 50 and 65 km rides putting serious damage into me, do I feel ready for 87kms in the race? Nope!! Which is why tomorrow, in what is forecast as spectacular "beginning of BC summer" weather, we will venture to the island for 110kms in the saddle! That's the plan, anyway. Of course, I know a few shortcuts just in case the body remains less willing than the mind.