Today, I am a swimmer!

The last 2 months have been absolutely crazy!

Here's what the month of May consisted of:
210.28 total miles of logged activity.
43.53 miles of running.
166.75 miles of biking. Of which one ride was a century ride and another was a half ironman distance ride.
I didn't track my swimming so you can add that into the mix as well.

Here's what the month of June consisted of:
206.13 total miles of logged activity.
53.55 miles of running. Of which one was a full marathon and then 6.2 miles were part of my first Olympic Triathlon.
136.9 of biking. Of which one was a 112 mile ride and then 24.9 miles were part of my first Olympic Triathlon.
I only logged .93 miles of swimming but I definitely swam more than that throughout the month.

So far the month of July has started out just as crazy!
It's only day 6 and I'm already at 37.84 miles.
33.58 miles of running.
4.26 miles of swimming.
I haven't logged any biking miles yet but I'll be logging a ton of miles today and this weekend.

Surprisingly, the above training is NOTHING compared to what some other Ironman training schedules look like.

Now that I've shared all of that, I definitely want to share a very happy story from this past 4th of July. While many of you were probably out enjoying the beautiful weather, BBQs, drinking lovely alcoholic beverages, enjoying the company of your friends and family, I was out in Sonoma (no, not for wine tasting unfortunately) but to swim 2.4 miles in the Russian River and then do a quick 17 mile run in the 87 deg heat. For those who know me well, you know that I HATE swimming. My form sucks, I fear putting my face under water, and I can't seem to figure out my breathing. None of that matters because of July 28 I either sink or swim! I needed to know that I can actually swim 2.4 miles prior to my Ironman so I went out to the river where the actual event will be taking place and told myself that I wasn't getting out until I swam 2.4 miles! I'm so happy I made that decision. I'm not sure how or why, but about 10 minutes into my swim, things just clicked! My technique just sorta started flowing, which allowed my breathing to slow down and actually take breaths. It was such an amazing feeling! I It took me less than 2 hours to swim 2.4 miles and I didn't freak out or panic once! I'm feeling sooo much more confident about completing this Ironman now! I honestly thought I would be disqualified before I even got out of the water but not anymore!

Which brings me to the run. On July 1 I went out to San Jose for a 2 mile swim and a 20 mile run. I swam about 1.86 miles with bad form but whatever, I still did it. What I didn't realize at the time is that the heat that day would KILL me! Never before has a run been so hard for me. My body has definitely gotten used to running in cooler climates where I don't really need to hydrate as often. At about mile 8, I just couldn't run anymore and had to start walking. Then proceeded to walk for another 6-7 miles. It was awful! I ran out of water and felt totally dehyrdated. In the back of my head I was thinking, "How the heck am I going to do this Ironman if the weather is like this?!" But then on July 4, I had learned from my mistakes and decided to hydrate more often. I came to realize then when it's that hot outside, I NEED at least 5 oz of Gatorade every mile and an electrolyte chew every 10-20 min. I ended up missing a turn during my run and ran an extra mile for a total of 18.26 miles, which I guess is a good thing since I need to run 26.2 miles on race day.

Anyway, that's a very long-winded way of saying, "Today, I am a swimmer!"

Shout Outs:
My client and friend Landon: Thank you for reminding me that it is better to not finish than not to try.
My BLR friends: Thanks for adopting me into your family! You all inspire me more than you know!