I just want to know what happens already

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will. ~James Stephens.

It’s just a little more than a week to go until showtime. Nine days until the canon goes off, and I begin my third Ironman in Mont Tremblant, Canada.

You’d think I’d be nervous or scared. And I am, a little. But, mostly, I am curious. 

I try to read the tea leaves of my training, of my performances at Bassman, or Quassy or Rhode Island – hoping to find a clue as to what I can expect at Ironman Mont Tremblant. While that story is positive, it’s incomplete. It offers only a partial glimpse of how my day could go.

I’d love to comfort myself with the belief that the day will unfold as it should, that everything will happen for a reason, that I just simply need to show up and start making forward progress after the canon goes off.

Yeah, I’ve done enough of these to know that’s not even close to how it goes.

A week or so ago, I watched a recap clip of this year’s Ironman Lake Placid. At one point, Pete Jacobs says, “Everything that is in my control, I’ve looked after, and I’ve ticked the boxes.”

With just single digit days left until Ironman Mont Tremblant, I feel Jacobs’ sentiment. Trouble is, there’s just so much that isn’t in our control on race day. There’s so many boxes that can’t be ticked until the canon goes off.

How will it all unfold? 

With 9 days left to go, here’s what I’m most curious about. 

What will the swim start be like? 

There is precious little you can control in the first 400-1000 yards of an Ironman swim. If you’ve never seen or experienced a mass swim start with 2500-3000 other bodies, watch this video, then you’ll understand what I mean.

As my friend Courtney would say, “Poop, there it is.”

Making effective choices about where to start is key. Mont Tremblant is beach start. So, I will need to find a place on the beach where 6-foot-plus men are NOT standing behind me. (A most valuable lesson learned from Quassy.)

Once I get past the start, it becomes easier to stay in control of what I can: 1, 2, breathe. 4, 5, breath. 7, 8, breathe. 10, 11, sight. Repeat for 2.4 miles, and find a pair of fast feet for drafting. Sounds simple, right? 😉

What is the bike course like?

I’ve heard all sorts of things about the Ironman Mont Tremblant bike course, from: “It’s so hard, I don’t know how any women will ever finish it” (freaking SlowTwitch…when will I learn to stay OFF the slowtwitch forums?) — to: “This course is comparable to Lake Placid, and might even be a little easier.”

Um, okay – that’s a pretty big range of reports. Given the two extremes, I’ll assume the course is somewhere in the middle. One of the first orders of business when I get to Mont Tremblant will be to drive the bike course. However, there is a quite a difference between driving a course and riding your bike on it.

Luckily, curiosity won’t kill the triathlete. Hopefully, the climbing won’t either.

How long will it take me to go from T1 to T2? 

Thanks to more experience and growing confidence, my main curiosity for the bike is NOT about the descents for the first time in my triathlon racing history. Nope. I just want to know how long it will take me to get from T1 to T2. Hopefully, it will only take me about 6.5 hours to find the answer to this question.

Will I have the legs to run the IM marathon that I KNOW is inside of me? 

This is the first year that I’ve consistently raced to my potential on the bike. So, far that hasn’t affected my ability to run the way I like to run: fast. Based on my half-iron races and my training runs, I’m right on target to have a great marathon. But, how will this translate to race day? We’ll soon find out.

Just how bad is that marathon going to hurt?

Ever since my coach Vince and I discussed the race strategy for the run portion, I’ve been mentally preparing myself for serious pain.

Why “serious” pain, as compared to “normal” pain, you may ask?

Here’s just a snippet of Vince’s direction for the marathon: “You better f’ing dig deep.  I will scour your f’ing file and call you the biggest ***** in the world.  <3 U.”

The fact that he ends it with “<3 you” makes it all better, don’t you think?

After almost a year of coaching me, Vince has really figured out how I tick. And, he knows this is exactly the type of tough love that works for me. I’ve discussed this with his other athletes, and we all agree that he has an innate ability to find just the right way to motivate and encourage each of us as individuals.

So, while the tough love approach might not work for everyone, it does for me. I KNOW I will play parts of this sentence on a loop in my head throughout the marathon. And, I KNOW it will help me push past the inevitable pain. I can’t control the pain, but I can control my response to it.

What will the clock read when I cross the finish line? 

This is the big question, right? I’ve got seriously aggressive goals. Realistic, yes. But, aggressive.

I have imagined the moment in my mind, hundreds of times during my training runs, coming into the final stretch and feeling that rush of the Ironman finish line. There is just nothing else like it for me. It is a personal triumph every time, to be so far out of my comfort zone, to be doing something that five years ago I wasn’t even thinking about doing, let alone repeating over and over.

It’s going to be close, and it’s going to be hard. I accept the challenge. I am ready to embrace the suffer. I want to put my training to the test. But, how will it all play out?

I just want to know already. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This year, I’m training racing in honor of my mother, who passed away on June 12, 2012, after tough battle with pancreatic cancer. I’m raising money to support Gilda’s Club of South Jersey. My goal is $5000, and I’m up to $2000–that’s 41% there! I’ve got a week to go, and I know I can reach my goal with your help. If everyone just donated $5-10 – I’d be there. Thanks for your consideration! Click here to donate.

 

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