I guess I should start

The time has come. The countdown has begun.

T minus 7 days until Ironman Lake Placid

This will be my 5th Iron race (2002, 04, 05 - IM Wisconsin, 2004 - ChesapeakeMan) in 6 years, and feel about as prepared as I do when going to IM Wisc that first year.

I was such a baby back then.. so wet behind the ears.. so new to the experience and everything around me.

Now I consider myself a grizzled ol' vet, with the emphasis on 'grizzled'. You'd think that I would've learned a thing or two over the years about training and prep for such a distance - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run - to be completed under 17 hours. Oh, sure.. I've learned TONS, but it's the "apply what you've learned" part that I need work on. So be it.

That tends to be my attitude this week. There's a bit of 'eh' in my voice when the topic of the pending IM comes up. It's not that I'm not excited.. don't get me wrong.. an Ironman is a great accomplishment. I just.. well, my heart isn't 100% into it this year.

I am not as under trained as I was in 2002. Back then, had no clue what it was like to train for an Ironman, or what it felt like to be in 'IM shape'. (Oh, this is reminiscent of a post regarding training for MMT!) As I get more used to racing/participating, I get lax and rely on experience rather than training. Sure, I'm trained.. or I've done 'some' training. I'd have to say the shape I'm in is either for a casual 15:30 finish, or a 'put it out there' 13:30 finish. No way could I go faster than that. If I do, you're free to call me a sandbagger. Hey, I deserve it. But if you knew my training since MMT, you'd know I've swam 4x (longest being 1hr open water swim), biked maybe 10x (longest being 200 miles, but that doesn't count!), and run 7x (longest being 10 miles) since May 20th. By no means near the quality of Ironman ready standards.

But I have no regrets.

Sure, I could've done things differently the past few months.. *shrugging shoulders*. There's no doubt, and I admit it now, that I'm burned out. I'm just not interested in racing, in training, or even working out. Being lazy is fun, but it's just so.. so.. so lazy! It's hard to look forward to the race when I'm already looking forward to it.. not necessarily it being over, but to life after the Ironman. I am looking forward to the trip, to seeing friends I haven't seen in a few years, to the whole IM experience and atmosphere. But I already have plans for August with rugby starting up again, and I'm considering running a marathon for a specific finishing time instead of 'just-because-it's-the-Fall/end-of-the-year-and-I-still-have-to-run-a-stand-alone-marathon', which is what I tend to do.

So I guess I should start.. start the packing, start the mental prep, and start the focusing on the Ironman this weekend. I HAVE started my packing lists, which include "Kill Bill vol 1 and 2", apple pie recipe, a swim floaty, sex toys and wicker baskets, a boa feather, 40 copies of Karen Smyers pictures, and a blow up doll. Don't ask.

And at some point there is the race.

Track #2076 if you dare.