Life in Austin

7.14.2008

IM Lake Placid - Good luck Amanda!

Here is a sampling of some of the good luck wishes that my awesome training group - T3 - have been sending my way. Not to mention the emails and phone calls. THANKS guys you are the absolute best!

Just wanted to wish Amanda good luck in Lake Placid this weekend! Hope you have a great race, and know that we will be cheering for you all day long :)

Have a great race Amanda! I know you will de awesome. We will be cheering for you and sending you a lot of positive energy.

Have an AWESOME race Amanda & make sure Gordon takes lots of great pics!

Good Luck and have fun!

Good Luck! You have looked simply awesome everytime I have seen you!! Hope you have a great race and a wonderful day!

Have a great race!!! Just keep that great attitude you always have and have fun :) we'll be cheering you from here!!

Good Luck!!! Have a great race and enjoy the day..

Kick A**!

Enjoy the day. And afterwards you can join Gordon on working on your buoyancy. (Thought that was a great line from Gordon awhile back.)

Have a fantastic time!

you are going to rock :)

w00T! You're going to have a great race!

Amanda,

T3 only needed to send one person to Ironman Lake Placid...

A sniper always says... "One shot, One Kill"

You are gonna kill it girl!!

Am I ready?

Lately people have been asking me "are you ready?". I hate that question. I'm sure the people asking it are not wanting to cause me to question my training - but of course it makes me think twice. Am I really ready? Have I done enough long rides (yes), have I done enough long runs (think so), have I done enough swimming (for the most part)? Do I have a good nutrition plan (pretty sure I do)? Have I developed more mental toughness during the training? ABSOLUTELY! That is the part that I have really been working on this time. If I compare training hours between IMAZ 2007 and IMLP 2008 I'm almost exactly the same. But I know I feel stronger mentally. I've done most of my long rides on my own - sometimes starting with friends, but always finishing on my own, often in 90 degree weather. I've forced myself to keep training - losing focus sometimes - but always coming back and getting those key workouts done.

It's weird because I don't have a benchmark for my progress this year, having trained on my own. When I trained for IMAZ 2007 I always had others in the group to check progress against, but this time I haven't. I also didn't really think about the IMAZ course much last year - knowing it was flat made it easy and I only worried about the distance, not the course. But IMLP is a totally different ballgame. Sure, I know I can do the distance, but those hills? I do like biking on hills, but how am I going to pull up after 112mi? The run is hilly too, and my running got off to a slow start this year with a slight injury going into the training. But my running is finishing stronger than it did last year when I had shin splints leading up to the race and could barely run.

I find it interesting how I switch between being SO excited about this race one minute, then a few hours later being absolutely terrified that it's going to be ridiculously hard? But then perversely looking forward to the hard times during the race because I want to overcome the challenges this time - overcome them and put a smile on my face and enjoy the day?

I'm not posting this to have everyone message me and tell me I'm going to be awesome. I know I'm going to be awesome. Finishing the training and getting to the start line makes me awesome. Finishing the race is just dotting the i of the ironman.