Today was my last long workout -- the long run. I was so lucky to have a spontaneous support team along the way. My friends Kim, Traci, and Sara followed me along my route and cheered me on with cowbells, clappers, bubbles, and silly string (yes, silly string). It made the miles pass so quickly!
It made me realize how lucky I am to have so many supportive friends and family members. Each of you who has given me encouragement throughout the course of my training has made a large impact on me, whether it's been to pick up my crappy attitude or to give me motivation to push through a very hard workout. Thank you so much for your support. I am a very lucky person.
I feel amazingly strong today. I will not lie, this week was hell. Yes. It was. Over the course of this week, I have traveled roughly 300 miles, either by biking, running, or swimming. Just to put it into perspective, that is MORE than traveling to Lake Placid and back. It was literally the hardest week of my life. I was constantly exhausted, hungry, and emotionally drained. I woke up, trained, worked, trained, caught up on work at home, WENT to work, and then went home to sleep however long I could before I repeated it the next day. No time for TV, video games, or relaxing.
I was caught in a downpour on my bike on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it was all I could do to keep it together. I was at the end of my rope mentally and emotionally. On Thursday, I literally think I spent more time on my bicycle than I did on my feet, trying to make up for lost training mileage due to the crappy weather. I got creative -- I woke up earlier than normal to get in a 20-mile bike ride, then rode my bike to work, then rode it to the Niskayuna Pool to swim (yes, and up the hill after the Rexford Bridge), rode home, had just enough time to eat and catch up on work messages/emails before riding another 10 miles to the bike shop to drop off my bike, and then walked to work for my evening shift.
I credit my mom with helping me not snap and go to the dark place (thanks Mom!). And everyone who sent me a text, email, or Facebook message, or just told me in passing to keep it up -- thank you. Every bit of it helped.
And now it is like a cloud has passed. I have done everything I can possibly do to prepare for this race. Although I will continue to train for the next three weeks, each week will get progressively easier, allowing my body to recover and get strong for race day.
I will borrow the words of my fitness inspiration Tony Horton, who was the first stepping stone into this madness all those years ago, when I was overweight and decided to actually buy that crazy P90-whatever thing I saw on TV at 2:00 am.
HEY, Lake Placid...yes, YOU. I'm talking to you.
BRING IT!
