Finally recovering from our trip to Kona for Drew's Ironman... it is quite the race! It reminded me of the Boston Marathon, but for triathletes. Lots of fast people, lots of hype. Sponsor tents everywhere giving out schwag. Everyone up and excited.
Running down Ali'i drive in the days before the race was awesome, because every half mile or so were sponsor houses, with tents set up (Gu, Powerbar, Cliff, etc.) so every run was supported. You could pick the racers out by their wristbands, but everyone was out and about. Strange to see so many people strutting their stuff.
I sucked up the energy, but oddly it didn't make me want to race Ironman again. I love the energy of a big race, but for me it is still more about pushing myself to new places. Pulling my Ironman time down from 13:45 to 13:00, or accumulating cool finishers medals is just not the right challenge for now.
Next season is that season for me to really push the boundaries.
Starting with the Double Ironman in Tampa in February, a few European Doubles (maybe 1 Double/1 Triple) in the summer, and then the DecaIronman in the fall in Italy. I want to show continual improvement through the season, do the Deca in under 150 hours, and throw down a challenge for the IUTA World Cup. It's my 10th year at my job, so I have 25 days of vacation and I am using them all in support of seeing what I can really do in the world of ultradistance triathlon.
Using this season to recover seems to have done the trick. I'm antsy, I'm ready to go.
Training starts today with my last challenge, a 10 day swim challenge.
2.4miles each day in the pool. Not crazy hard physically, but mentally this one will be the toughest (I really find it hard to get myself into the pool). After this Debi has the plan, and I am ready to execute!
Go long!
Leslie
