Ironman: Mental Hill Reps

So you know how you’re meant to something every now and then that scares you?

Well I have.

I’ve entered Ironman Barcelona. That’s a 3.8km swim in the sea,112 miles of bike riding and 26.2 miles of running. Or to put it another way, an hour and a half of getting kicked in the face and stung by jellyfish, 6 or 7 hours of getting saddle sores and 4 or 5 hours of putting my legs through further torture, crying and overheating. Fun, right?

I get scared thinking of the event … but then I get happy when I think of the huge amounts of cake I’m going to be able to eat in training. So at the moment my mind is basically going “Argh! PANIC! … Mmmmm cake.” and basically doing that in rotations. It’s like a mental version of hill reps. “Argh! HILL! … Mmmmm downhill.”

Swim is going well. Well for me, that is. Did 20 miles in the pool last month which seems a bonkers distance to someone who swims like me. (Frantic, thrashing, panicky) Bike is good. Apart from some sort of gear issue on the ride out earlier which meant I had the option of 2 gears: really easy and really, really easy. But I’m hoping that won’t happen on the day. I can’t do 112 miles at 150rpm cadence. I’d die. Well … I’d cry. 

And I’m ignoring the run. Marathons are fun, right? Especially after thrashing around in the sea and cycling for 6 hours. I’m just ignoring the run part for now.

**whispers to self** I’m doing an Ironman.