Ultra Endurance

Ironman training looms over me. I can feel it's heavy presence weighting down my legs and resting heavily on my shoulders. It is inevitible. After a much needed hiatus, training will commence in one week. I have been slowly trying to get used to the idea. Yesterday I went for my first real long ride in about 2 months. I managed 60 hard miles with some good friends followed by a BBQ and lounging by the pool. I felt it today when I struggled to hold the wheel of the Skirt Chaser for 20 miles. Oh well. I have 13 weeks to rebuild my endurance on the bike while maintaining mileage on my legs and in the pool. I have kind of missed that feeling that your body takes on after a long hard ride or run. When you finally get to sit down on the couch and you sort of melt into it and let all your muscles relax. You know you've worked hard. You close your eyes and just breathe. I don't think I mastered the art of relaxation until I mastered the art of a hard workout. You can't have one without the other. Or at least you can't fully appreciate it.

And speaking of hard workouts... I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge my best friend and little sis who just finished her first ultra, the Rocky Mountain Double Marathon (52.4 miles for those of you not familiar with marathon distance). She is working her way through running a marathon in each of the 50 states. When she picked out her Wyoming marathon, they had an option to run a double so she figured, Why not? One click of the button and she was registered for her first ultra, at 8000 feet of elevation. Oh. My. God. I nearly died when she told me and then I was immediatly jealous. She invited me to run with her, but I knew with everything else on my calendar this spring I wouldn't be able to train appropriately for a 52 miler. She rocked it. I spoke with her briefly when she finished and she said it was the hardest thing she'd ever done, she was very sore, very tired and she thought she had found her limit. She wasn't sure she would ever run another one. But just like Ironman, I told her to give it 3 days and I'd ask her again about running another one. She finished in a very respectable time (11 hours and change) and earned the coveted belt buckle which I am sure will be framed on the wall.

I can't wait to hear every detail about her adventure. I look forward to the day when I can join the ranks as ultra runner. But in the meantime, I'm going to jump head first into Ironman and remember what it feels like to be alive.