Weeks 17 & 18 of Ironman training – Getting Lucky

Week 17 was a recovery week and week 18 was getting back into the swing of training.  My recovery weeks basically mean that I’m doing slightly less than I did the week before and not increasing the time and/or effort it takes to complete my workouts (remember all my workouts are time based and not distance based).  Then the week right after a recovery week is a slight increase to what I did the week before my recovery week.  It can get confusing, that why I've got it all written down and planned out beforehand.   I’m making progress and feeling stronger and faster mostly every day.  There have been a few more days lately that I’m not feeling ‘it’ and I need a little kick in the butt to get my engine started.  All in all, my spirits are up and I’m still excited about the training and the races ahead of me.  So far I've been extremely fortunate to have the support of Jess for this adventure and she takes great care of me so that I can concentrate on training and not get distracted. 

I've also been very lucky thus far in my training to not suffer any physical or mental setbacks…come on now people get your heads out of the gutter; what did you think this entry was going to be about?  Every now and again you hear someone say ‘I don’t believe in luck’, or ‘I make my own luck’.  I can’t help but think how much luck is going to play into whether or not I cross that finish line on September 7^th.  I can take precautions to help alleviate something bad happening to me, but in the end I can’t wrap myself in bubble-wrap until race day. 

I can buy the right equipment and rest when something gets sore, but I can’t totally prevent an injury from occurring; I have to get lucky.  I can have my bike checked over by a professional and take good care of it up to the race, but I can’t prevent blowing a tire on race day; I have to get lucky.  I can practice some open water swims and do all of my swim workouts, but I can’t prevent someone from kicking me in the face and ending my day early; I have to get lucky.  You’re starting to get the point about how many different variables are at play during this 17 hour race day: weather, equipment, strategy, nutrition, other racers, allergies, etc.  I've been lucky thus far and I need to continue getting lucky all the way through race day.  One could easily get consumed by how much luck you need on your side to complete anything in life, but as my brother Jeff told me a long time ago, ‘worrying is a useless emotion’.  All you can do is prepare for the things you can control, and roll with the things you can’t.