It All Seemed Uphill ...

Post: 34
Weeks of training complete: 23 weeks, 1 day
Time remaining until Ironman: 8 weeks, 6 days

Miles swam: 96.816
Miles biked: 1,566.74
Miles run: 391.95

Goal: $5,000
Total raised: $1,615

First off – there's less than 9 weeks left. It's actually becoming a reality, this insane race. And every now and then, the excitement builds inside me ... I get this explosion of joy: "I'm gonna' do it! I'm gonna' do it!"

And then, I actually have to go do it.

Here's a look at my training schedule for the week:

Today: Swim 2.245 miles (1 hr, 30 min); Run 6.5 (1 hour, 15 min) – Total: 2 hour, 45 min
Tuesday: Bike 12 miles (45 min); Run 3.0 (30 min) – Total: 1 hour, 15 min
Wednesday: Swim 2.245 miles (1 hour, 30 min); Bike 24 miles (1 hour, 30 min) – Total: 3 hours
Thursday: Swim 2.245 miles (1 hour, 30 min); Run 8.5 miles (1 hour, 30 min) – Total: 3 hours
Friday: Bike 77.5 miles (5 hours); Run 4 miles (45 min) – Total: 5 hours, 45 minutes
Saturday: Bike 12 miles (45 mins); Run 12.5 miles (2 hours) – Total: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Sunday: OFF

Week totals: Swim 6.735 miles (4 hours, 30 minutes), Bike 125.5 miles (8 hours), Run 34.5 miles (6 hours) – Total: 18 hours, 30 minutes

So, as you can see, it's getting pretty crazy. The blogs may get pretty short as we get in to this super intense training period.

The bocce tournament is all set for Saturday. We expect to raise at least $500 after proceeds, so that should be good. Best part: there's going to be a hot dog bar ... Yeah. Classy.

Today, everything seemed as if I was going uphill. Roads I've normally run 100 times, roads I know are flat. The just seemed to go up. My eyes played tricks on me. My legs felt sore and heavy. But I made it through another day.

It's pretty interesting that my fears about the economic markets materialized in a single day – the value of the dollar fell, oil soared $16/bbl as investors sought a safe haven. We're in a dangerous time now; a return to soaring commodity prices coupled with rising unemployment could have a very bad cyclical effect ... Let's hope the Fed's plan, as it comes to fruition, is one people can get behind ...

Sorry to bore you with that.

I'm trying to think of what else happened ... Sunday was pretty uneventful. I mowed the low; bought the wine for the party, built the tournament bracket; relaxed on the couch - which, by the way, is what I'm going to do now. It's 9:30 p.m. I need to go spend some time with the wife.

Best,
Ed