swim, bike, run, repeat.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Another day, another wavering back and forth about 60 times. I'll be so sure that I'm going to do the full distance, I'll get really excited, and then BAM! I change my mind and start thinking WTF?!?! That is insane!

Also, my wonderful husband Ben wrote a nice post letting me see how my decision won't just affect my life. For either race, the training will be long and intense, not to mention time-consuming, but for the full distance, it seems all the more daunting. Is it fair to my family (not to mention everyone else) for me to embark on such a time-sucker? Am I willing to make the sacrifices? I'm just not so sure.

I've run 2 marathons, and will run another in October. For them, I've had about a 4 month training period, and have quite often cursed and complained my way through them. I haven't even told the majority of my running buddies that I'm doing a marathon this year because I didn't want the pressure of having my training plan (or lack thereof, quite frankly) critiqued. I just wanted to run. I have no time goal, other than to beat the straggler bus. I am not a fast runner. I do the turtle-shuffle, and that's okay with me. I'm a strong swimmer, having spent 8 years on a swim team. I can ride a bike, but am not very good at it. It scares me - if /when I fall, it's going to hurt. I go faster than I'm comfortable with, and I'm not even going all that fast. I'm sure some of these feelings will pass, but lord, 112 miles ! That just seems insane.

I'm doubting my ability to commit to the Ironman - or, more precisely, to it's training. I'm sure that I could suffer through the actual race. But I'm not sure I could force myself to suffer through the training. The half distance is starting to seem a lot more reasonable. I've biked 34 miles before. The jump to 56 seems doable. I can already swim 1.2 miles, and most of my weekly long runs are longer than 13.1 miles. But, with time, who's to say I wouldn't be able to make the leap the Ironman distances?

Sigh. Such indecision.

As of a little while ago, the race was still open, so I guess I get to waver some more. Any input would be appreciated.

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