The Finish Line is in Sight

Jul 17, 2014 | My Iron Year, Training Daze

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Lynne Tapper

I am a lifelong endurance athlete with the dual goal of training and racing until my bones turn to dust and sharing that passion with as many people as possible.

As I look back on this morning’s workout, I am smiling.  I know that sounds crazy, but today I realized that I really think I can pull this off.

For some insane reason I woke up at 4:30 am today.  There was no alarm.  There was no need for me to be awake. I just woke up!  I tried to rest a bit longer, but only lasted another 30 minutes.

I decided to get up and start my day. I had breakfast. Filled my Camelbak (my new best friend!) with water, gels and gel blocks, added some songs to my Shuffle play list (Thank you Sofie!) and headed out the door by 6:00 am.

As I started out on my 2 hour and 20 minute run, I soaked in the cool temps and relished the quiet neighborhood. So few people were awake and it felt so good to be getting my long run done so early.

I stuck to the workout plan, fueled and hydrated regularly and was able to run each successive 3 miles segments a bit faster than the previous set.

It is my plan to utilize a run/walk strategy for the marathon portion of the race.  I have never done before, but it’s growing on me.  I find myself actually looking forward to my 60-second walk.  I drink and eat and then after a minute of walking, I start running again.  It is just the recovery I need to stay on track.

At about 2 hours, I visualized myself in the Ironman race.  I thought, at this point I’ll have about 14 more miles to go.  I tried to imagine how I would feel and how I would be able to keep myself going.  For the first time, I started to believe that I could do this.

What an amazing feeling.  I can visualize the finish line.

One month from today (August 17), I will be actually crossing it!

i

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