As I alluded to in last week's summary, I am at the beginning of the end of my training. For me and for you, I hope to document my last weeks of training, and include all the range of emotions as I prep for The Big Day. I don't think they'll all be this long, though. All will be categorized under "T-Minus."
Today was exactly 40 days before September 11. It also started three weeks of lots of time swimming, biking and running. I hope to average about 15 hours each week working out. Two emphasizing the bike, one on the run. Swimming will occur in Lake Monona, getting used to long, continuous swims, the lake and my wetsuit. I woke up this morning at 5 AM to darkness. Just a month ago, the sun had been up for nearly 20 minutes. Now, it hadn't broken the horizon. As a result, I was treated to a giant orange glow about twenty minutes into my ride.
When I started, mid-week rides pushed 45 minutes and went around Lake Monona. Soon, I needed a longer ride, and I pushed it to an hour around the Capitol City Trail. Lately, I've pushed it even more, and now I close in on two hours a ride, following the Ironman bike course to the loop portion that starts in Verona. I call it the Ironlink. On the Ironlink, there's one hill that takes some effort. At the crest, there's a mailbox post made from PVC pipe, connected and painted to green to represent a cactus. As such, I've name the hill "Cactus Hill." Every time I reach the top of Cactus Hill, I wish that I had a camera to capture the view. In it, quintessential Wisconsin is captured. Green rolling hills, large farms, and bypasses around small cities. Today it held up to the expectations, with patches of morning fog trapped in the valleys swallowing up the farms in the nooks and crannies of the driftless hills.
The run tonight wasn't so serene. In an effort to stay cool and get errands done, I quick ran to Qdoba and got dinner. In a sincere lack of judgment, I ordered a burrito and swallowed it whole. I then got the errands done and made it home to get ready to run. Unfortunately, the burrito hadn't settled, nor did the weather. It was still near 90°F and sticky. The tummy wasn't too happy with my speed, so I made do and was out when the sun set.
So that marks t-minus 40 days. Up and down with the sun.