How William Harrison ever managed to qualify for Kona (i.e. the World Championship of triathlons), run Kona and then land his dream job this year - I'll never know.
I'm not even trying to qualify for Kona and I can barely juggle all of my responsibilities this semester: school, radio and TV projects, two part-time jobs (the rock wall and teaching indoor cycling), training and an internship at a local TV station. I noticed that I had Fridays off -for the first time in my college career- and I thought "Perfect! Space for an internship." I clearly make it look like I don't want a social life.
However, I do enjoy most aspects of all of these things: even 20-mile runs, one of which I did on Saturday.
I've been doing 16,17 and 18-mile runs, but for some reason the additional two miles really made a bit of a difference. I managed to finish and I'm not worried about my endurance, but I am worried about my habit of ALWAYS needing to go to the bathroom during these long runs...typically when there are no restrooms to be found. I've gotten better about this over the past few months and I thought my days of using "nature's restroom" were over. But it just so happened that I had run about 10 miles out into a forested area when I realized I needed to use the restroom...desperately. The only building in sight was a gymnastics clinic and it was closed. So I did what I had to do...and trekked into the forest.
Writing this, I feel as though this might come off as inappropriate to some, but if you run long distances, you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. The less glamorous side of being able to run for hours on end.
I did lose it a bit towards the end of the run. In terms of endurance, I was fine, but I hadn't paced myself when eating GU. As a result, I got a stomach ache from slurping one too quickly and then I didn't want to eat another. The bad part of that is that I need to have at least 100 calories (or 1 GU pack) every 45 minutes or so. So I was finishing a three-hour run with a caloric intake of probably 150 calories. The fact that it was 40 degrees (and I'm sure I needed even more calories to allow my body temperature to be maintained) didn't help. But of course, I finished and had about 45 minutes until I had to volunteer and then go to work at Duke.
The Cuban coffee may not have been a wise choice for training, but I'm not worried. It was during the few minutes that I had to hang out with my friend, Erica, before I had to dash off to teach my Saturday spin class.
As far as the bike, I was supposed to do that yesterday, but I was busy filming/editing a VO-SOT for a 5K race and then I went to the North Carolina State Fair to encourage people to use alternative sources of energy. (I was working as a volunteer for NC GreenPower: a 'go-green' state organization.) So the bike happened today and for some reason, it was a little more mentally taxing. Honestly, there are times when I wish I could mentally slip out of my body and let my muscles keep working, which they gladly would. It's a strange thing to describe. I'm tired, but my muscles aren't. They can easily keep going and if I could continue riding while asleep, I probably would.
While I may sound burnt-out, I cannot contain my excitement (and also my nervousness) for Cozumel. SIX WEEKS! I was reading through the race site today and the course description has definitely changed from what it originally was set to be. I'm not thrilled about the 3-lap bike (112 miles) or the 3-lap run (26.2 miles). Essentially, I'm going to pass the transition area/finish line twice before I can actually cross it. I suppose this might be a good thing for families who come out to support competitors, as well as other spectators. Abuelo and Abuela will be able to see me several times before I can actually collapse in front of them at the end. Which makes me wonder... do they know what they're getting into? My grandparents have been to one of my races, but this will last about 10 hours longer and triathletes (such as those that will be racing in Cozumel) are definitely a breed of their own.
Did I mention the great 'swag' for this race? (*Apparently, some people I've met say that they're going just for the cool gear that a new Ironman course will probably include in the goodie bags.)
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