Feelin' good!

No journey is without it's up s and downs, mine seems to have defied the reality a little.  Since the day I hit send to sign up for IM I have been on a mental and physical high.  I have allowed myself the freedom to go where I want to from both a physical and mental perspective, BUT not allowed it to suck me into an energy vortex when it came along. The process has allowed me to learn a ton about myself and others around me and to enjoy a wickedly cool experience.  I will never get to do my first IRONMAN twice, regardless of what the near future brings, this has and will continue to be an awesome trip!
THis week has been strong a fun for training.  With my 'receovery' last week I seem to have come back feeling damn great.  I have not taken the time to figure out if it is in my head nor will I waste that energy.  There is a strength to what I have done and I am accepting it with a smile!
Monday was a great swim, like I mentioned I felt strong from start to finish and felt an energy to what I was doing.
Tuesday, was a day on the bike with some running.  I did a 2 part interval workout on the bike, my goal was to make it hurt.  The front part of the ride was a 20k uphill ride, no downhills the entire way with a good push up for 34 minutes.  I was able to push hard through the hills and not allow myself to drop out of my big ring.  A few weeks back I was spinning like mad at the top in order to get it done.  Now my HR stays in a lower zone, the leg burn is self induced as I seem to be able to push harder than before.  I followed the uphill with a great t-run at a 5:15m/k pace.  Again it was not an excruciating effort, a smooth relaxed run with some work built in.  On the way home I was going more or less down hill, I changed my route in order to get a little more pushing.  It was a 27 minute ride home, a little heavier in the legs but still feeling relaxed.  I did discover that there was a bit of dehydration setting in.  While practicing last week, the sweat factor was at the top of the scale, I have never sweat so much for so long before.  When I was on the trip back, I slowed water consumption so I would not have to stop at the washroom 120 times over the drive.  Then I was at the cottage where beer seemed to be the drink of choice.  Early in the week I should have hit the water cooler hard but did not.  As I got towards the end of the run I could feel the dizzies coming on and  a bit of a loss in strength.  Lesson learned!
  Wednesday was another great swim day!  It consisted of longer length repeats in Zone 3.   Doing 300m repeats in HR3 is tough, by the time you get to the 6th one, it actually hurts a bit.  But overall I was able to mostly maintain form and knock them out strongly.    A huge energy burst came to me as I was in the presence of IM greatness for the later part of the practice.  KONA qualifier TrainingPayne was at the pool!  In my first 2-3 swim practices a year ago I met Bryan at the pool,  have followed and watched his progress and ultimate success.  He has pushed me to push and to the excitement of the IM world!  It was awesome to see him at the pool again after he has reached his goal, it makes me look forward to getting to mine even more! His arrival pushed me to finish my practice strong and with a smile.  The hydration came back to get me again, I had to take my 30s rest intervals to get a drink of water each time.  WOW, I never thought that a collective dehydration would take as much out as it did.  That swim was an overalll great setup for a race this coming weekend.  If you live in the Toronto area, you should come and check out the LOST swim race.  It is an IM distance swim in Lake ONtario, promises to be both a great training and strength building event.
I did another t-run after swiming.  This one was a little  more relaxed as it was with the Running/Toga group that I train.  We went out for an 80% x 7k run.  The group kicked the run in the butt!  They were tough a pushed the pace beyond anything they could have done a few weeks back when they started the clinic.  I am so proud of the effort they have put into the run as well as the strength that it as given them.  They will all kick butt at the 1/2 marathon!
Overall, it has been an awesome week, feeling strong both physically and mentally.  I am starting to get into the mental zone as the date moves forward.  Mostly, I am loving the experience more than the day I signed up!  We make our choices and this is a great one!  HOpe you have an awesome training day!