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Why not do it? What's life without adventure and without a challenge?
The forecast was for 100+ degrees both Saturday and Sunday which I wasn't super stoked about that. I contemplated heading to Colorado Springs for the weekend because I miss Kevin like crazy and was dying to spend some time with him. But his brother was still in town and with the brood of dogs we decided maybe the house would be a little too crowded.
Instead my friend Brad and I decided to get in a long ride with allot of climbing on the menu. Our final destination was a lake at about 10,500 feet. We left Boulder (5430 ft) and headed North to a little town called Lyons then made our way up to another town called Raymond (7711 ft) eventually climbing all the way up to Branaird Lake (10,200 ft). It was a good choice to go up because it was at least 15 degrees cooler up there and the altitude training was an added perk. I felt strong the whole time, but could feel the air getting thinner as we went up. After stopping for a few pictures we began the decent back into town. It was nice to have a reprieve on the legs, however the dark clouds were moving in and the wind was blowing hard, so even descending we had to work. We hit highway 36 and hammered the last few miles back to Brads head on into the wind. At 75 miles I was feeling strong and pulling Brad along behind sucking my wheel, happy to help out!
I had planned to get off the bike and go for a run, sometimes it's just 10 minutes to get my legs under me but I got back to my place 90 miles on the bike, quickly laced up my runners, and headed out the door (even though my couch was looking REALLY comfortable and the AC was feeling really nice inside). I felt G-R-E-A-T. 8 miles later I was finally done and ready for a shower. I was so surprised I felt so good on my run. I literally didn't even feel like I had just ridden 90 miles, much less 6500 feet of mashing up hills. I was confident with my day and feeling much better about my fitness level-at this point I didn't have much choice. This was it.
Sunday morning came much to quickly. My plan was to get up and get started about 6am to beat the heat, get a 3.5 hour run in, and be in the pool for 1.5hr swim by 10am. My legs were trashed from Saturday and I was tired (shouldn't have stayed up so damn late Saturday night). I ran a solid 2.5 hours, got home, and called Kevin. We had planned to meet in Denver and he was already done with his run and seeing his brother off. I couldn't convince myself at that point to get in the pool, I just wanted to see him. I got a quick shower and made my way to Denver. We had lunch and made our way to the Denver aquarium, which was neat but not spectacular. We had fun being silly though and as long as I'm in his presence, I'm a happy girl!
It was a good weekend. I had great success in my training and came out of my last big weekend feeling more confident in my fitness for IM in a few weeks. At this point I'll start to back it off and rest up for the big day. I'm getting more nervous as the days tick by but am excited for the challenge. Kevin calms my nerves. Just knowing this is his 11th Iron Man gives me a piece of mind and I'm so excited to share this one with him.
Even more, I'm looking forward to our camping trip to the Boundary Waters in September. No obligation to get up at 5am for a run; laying around; spending some quality time with the man I love; and simply enjoying the beauty God has given us in nature for 6 days sounds pretty damn good right now, if you ask me.
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