Bubble Wrap

The fact that when I googled "bubble wrapped person" I got and entire page of images is slightly alarming..... or kind of funny.

13 days from an Ironman it is time to be really careful.  Especially given the fact I am clumsily and accident prone.   "Move with purpose" my husband says.  Slow down, look where you walk etc.... Which for me IS necessary.  The number of injuries I have sustained from day to day tasks is surreal.

I was signed up for the Labor Day Pier Swim in Oceanside- figured a good 1 mile OW race would be perfect timing.  Sunday night Liz points out that she was slammed on the beach that day in the open water, due to the high surf from the hurricane in MX ,and to be careful.  This planted a tiny seed and grew into a reasonable decision.

what I want to avoid

My back is not 100%.  When I move a certain way or the wrong way I can feel a twinge or sometimes shooting pain.  I am 75% better and mostly feel great but can tell there is still healing to be done.   So after a lot of thought I decided to NOT do the OW swim.  If I got hit by a wave or tossed in a certain way and tweaked my back I would be beyond frustrated.  This is what it means to be 48, no risks, slow down and be careful.   Getting old is really fun..

Instead I went to Hux's Labor Day "Fun"  6k in the pool later I dragged myself out -no injuries - just really sore and tired shoulders.   Probably a better "topping off the training" swim for an Ironman.  I headed up to Oceanside to see the swim and yes was feeling wimpy and a jealous..... in a normal scenario 8-10 ft conditions would be right up my alley.  Tough ocean swimming is super fun!  I was extremely proud of 2 of my athletes who took on the surf, prevailed and even PR'd in this 1 mile swim.  Congrats Lisa and Marcus.

RE:  IMLT (ironman lake tahoe)  I am all in!   After 6 days off 100% off of training (after my last post) my back eased up and the pain was nearly gone.  I did a test run and it was ok and the pain did not get worse.  2 week end's ago I logged a 51/2 ride and a good T run + 18 mile run the following day.  With that in the bank and no additional (back/sciatica) pain I was back in!   Pulled off another solid week and a lower volume weekend this past weekend and am feeling good  Swim and bike are rock solid, my run is the ?.  I don't have any speed and the long runs are just slow - slower than they have been in a long time.   I can only hope my back holds up....

But well... I am going with it and will see what day brings!   As the saying goes..... Anything is possible