Lake Placid Ironman July 2010 - A Spectator's View

For the second consecutive year, I was treated to the sight of athletes participating in the Lake Placid Ironman.  This year, I knew about 6 people racing, including my husband, Eric.  Race day was so exciting to witness!  I stood about 3 feet behind the wetsuit strippers so I had fabulous shots of the athletes readying for the swim start, the frenzy of them storming the beach afterwards, and flopping down to get stripped.  Those 'strippers' really put a lot of gusto into their jobs!!  Everytime I saw a wetsuit and resulting spray coming my way, I had to drop the camera lens down and turn my face away - LOL!   I managed to get photos of everyone I knew except for Eric... I think he exited the water during a particularly large crowd of swimmers and I missed him...

The bike leg is always great to watch - many fabulous photo ops and I saw Eric go by twice so that was great and I got some terrific shots of him!

The run course... I saw Eric going out for the run... gave him a kiss for good luck and then I hung around to see Tara Norton (fabulous pro athlete from Toronto) come into the finisher's oval prior to taking my seat at the Finish Line.

Last year I didn't get much opportunity to see the fastest finishers, as I was volunteering on the run course until quite late.  This year, I decided I wanted to witness those people who finished in under 11 hours... it was so great to see them coming down the chute!  I witnessed smiles, elation, tears of joy and one racer in particular who was so taken by the moment as she came down the chute, she literally stopped for a moment, taking it all in before she crossed - it gave me goosbumps!

Eric crossed the Finish Line looking perky and relatively fresh!  I was so happy to see him looking so great and strong!!!  When he came running through the chute, I could hardly believe it was him - the poor guy's been plagued with injuries for months - but he looked amazing!  So proud of him!!   By then, I was wearing a plastic bag (aka 'poncho') just to keep warm - it was freezing!! I was the yellow plastic-clad maniac jumping up and down in the bleachers, screaming, 'Go, Eric!!!!'.... he didn't see me... he forgot where I was going to be... I admit, when he didn't see me, my heart sank... I was so disappointed that we didn't even make eye contact... 

He crossed the line and the vanished from sight.  I figured if he didn't remember to look up where I said I'd be, he might not remember to come back and meet me there either... so I tried going looking for him... that took a good half hour and a lot of frustration - other people had seen him but I couldn't find him!  Finally - there he was!!  I felt so proud of him - what a fabulous accomplishment!

Congratulations to all of the finishers at Lake Placid Ironman - you all ROCK!!

Timberman 70.3 - 13 days and Counting...

It seems really hard to believe that in 13 days, I will be in New Hampshire, and getting ready to race at Timberman 70.3.  I still can't get my head wrapped around this... I keep flashing back to a year ago, when I was barely swimming 25m without a rest break, or running 1 and 1's for 10 sets... and trying to remind myself that I'm different now.  My brain hasn't quite caught up yet...

Yesterday, I went out for (what I think was) my last long ride before the race.  I say 'think' because, clearly, I have no real clue what is really going on... and at the moment I'm kind of too tired to really care... I just follow directions.  LOL! 

I would have thought that by now, after 10 months of training, that I would 'get it' and figure out what is going on... but obviously not... it still feels like a magic trick when I pull off a good training day!  Yesterday's nearly 4-hour bike ride on what turned out to be a very blustery day was a complete surprise:  I felt good!  I didn't know I could do that!!  LOL!  I know, you'd think that with all of the training and consistency I've been maintaining for 10 months, it would be a no-brainer but once again - MAGIC!  ;) 

This has been an amazing journey of self-discovery unlike anything I've embarked upon before.  I still find it completely fascinating that my body adapts to the training demands and keeps getting stronger (next year, I will hope for 'faster'...) and carrying me forwards when my brain seems to think that it's game over. 

I'm still not sure if I'll be fast enough to make all of the various cutoffs at the race.  I 'should' be able to make them... barring any unforeseen circumstances (that's life, right?) but I have to keep reminding myself that I CAN DO THIS.  Whether or not I can do this within an allotted time, I'm still not sure... all I can do is TRI... ;) 

So now I guess the tapering begins - or soon, anyway... I'm a little nervous.  The mood-swings alone are enough to make me question my sanity.  Last week, in a period of 24 hours I experienced nervousness, panic, apathy and extreme excitement - oh great... now I'm turning into a bipolar pixie... wonderful!

At least this week, I have the task of baking and decorating about 100 cupcakes for various functions.  That should keep the brain occupied...

Happy Training, Everyone!  Summer is not yet over!!!

- Sue