Epilogue: life after becoming an Ironman

It's now been over a month since my best race ever - Ironman Lake Placid. I never imagined that I would consider the longest hardest most challenging race I've ever done would be my most cherished achievement in sport! That in itself is amazing to me. I still have a profound sense of personal satisfaction for what I was able to overcome in the months, weeks, days and during the race itself in a psychological, spiritual and mostly physical way. 

This journey began years before I even knew I would attempt an Ironman. I have battled some demons inside of me. I felt let down by my body over the years but particularly its inability to produce a child - something I wanted more than anything. I decided I needed to make peace with my body by having it reward me in other ways. Ironman Lake Placid did that - both the journey and the race.

I feel a sense of confidence and peace that I have sought for a very long time - maybe all my life. The journey isn't over but I am now able to accept that my body can produce something extremely rare among most modern day humans - the ability to endure hours of activity and feel strong throughout.

I am now faced with the hardest part of doing an Ironman. Life After An Ironman Race. I am in transition. I am restless. I want to do another Ironman sooner than I had originally planned and promised my family and friends. It is an addiction of sorts, I am acutely aware of that. However, it is also a healthier option for me in my lifelong battle with mental illness. 

I need a goal, a target and a reward. I need the structure and discipline of training to cope with a lifelong illness I was clinically diagnosed with in 2001. I don't want to have to revert to medication - training, racing and the healthy lifestyle and habits it necessitates is preferable. Blogging about the journeys is also therapeutic. 

The race is the ends to the means - the journey or training is what helps me remain healthy in a holistic way - physically, psychologically,  emotionally and spiritually.

Over the past weeks a big group my triathlon friends registered for Ironman Mont Tremblant next Aug 2015. I would love to add that race to my calendar. I nearly just paid the several hundred dollars knowing it will sell out in days - but I didn't. It will be hard watching them prepare together. Although you ultimately race alone, having on-site team support - especially friends you have trained with - enhances the experience. I missed that sense of camaraderie this year being the only one from NS doing Ironman Lake Placid. 

So - I am trying my best to focus on what I do have on my calendar next and make plans for 2015 before I miss all the registration deadlines and remain in this restless (and potentially hazardous) place I am in now.

Last fall,  I deferred my paid registration at the Valley Harvest Marathon to this year as I was over-committed with doing the New York City marathon weeks later with and largely for Kristin - as it was her first.  I promised I'd be there by her side running at her pace so that she would achieve a "bucket list" item in one of our favourite cities in the world! I wouldn't have missed this chance to witness her overcome the challenging long distance - it was wonderful and I even had the honour of placing her finishers medal around her neck.

So back to the present or near future...on Thanksgiving Sunday - October 12, I plan to run my 7th full marathon (including the finale of the Ironman). I have a lofty goal of qualifying for the coveted Boston marathon. It may seem easy from an armchair observer's standpoint, having just done an Ironman but it will be harder for me. Why? I am not a fast runner. I get the job done but especially with the marathon distance my body hasn't responded well when I push the pace to a qualifying time. I won't spend much time on this subject here as I am about to launch a new blog solely focused on it. I will post a link to it on this blog site. I have decided that if I don't feel I have a chance to make the qualifying time, I will scale down to the half marathon distance as I don't need to prove I can do a marathon to anyone, including myself. I know I can but I also don't need to end my season disappointed that I wasn't even close to meeting my time goal due to fatigue and soreness. Regardless, it is and will remain a bucket-list item that I will achieve someday!

What is on my Triathlon calendar for the rest of 2014? It doesn't look likely that I do another triathlon of any length in 2014. Having done only 2 long triathlon races 3 weeks apart feels weird as I usually race a lot more but shorter distances! It's the shortest season I've ever had. No wonder I'm so restless. There are a few remaining triathlons locally for this race season and there have been several since I have been home.

I couldn't run far nor without soreness. I needed to recover properly to avoid injury or illness. I've done that. I am now physically ready to do a Sprint or Olympic distance race but if I want to try to run my fastest or even complete a marathon at this point, I need to focus on running. I will continue to swim and bike for active recovery from my hard runs and for recreation. 

I also returned to my softball team 9 days after IMLP.  I've played 4 games with fairly descent results both as the back catcher to the league's hardest orthodox pitcher and my batting avg is better than usual. I made one silly running error in game 1 that I blamed on still having post Ironman brain - kinda scrabbled. There is one only regular season game and then the playoffs on the weekend of September 14-15. 

The date is pertinent as I had really wanted to partake in two other activities: Boomers Legacy Ride - a century ride from Greenwood to Halfax via my home in Mt Uniacke and it's for a good cause... That is the Fri evening & Saturday. Sept 15th is Shubie Doobie tri - a perennial favourite and the final triathlon in Nova Scotia (lakes get too cold). This scenario has added to my restlessness. I promised my ballteam "the Angels" that I would be there for the playoffs and I honour my commitments. It's just shear bad luck it falls on the same weekend as the other two events I had my heart set on doing. The former isn't a race so it wouldn't harm my marathon training and the latter I was going to do as part of a team this year. Oh well!

2015 plans ... 

Winning my age group at the EPIC Dartmouth triathlon earned me a spot on Team Canada for the long distance World Championships in Motala, Sweden on June 27, 2015. 

The distance is 4k swim - 120k bike - 30k run. 72k less than an Ironman 40k more than a 70.3 or half Ironman distance. Not a bad compromise.

I have to confirm my spot by September 25th by coughing up $450 towards the non refundable team fees and uniform fee. There will be approximately $200-300 more that the event will charge. Plus I need to cover my airfare and ground transport for me and my bike and accommodations. I would need to fundraise to make this happen. I'm still paying off the last 3 years of triathlon bills! But I think I have to accept, pay the fee and work to raise the funds for my sanity's sake if nothing else. I have some pretty good ideas how I could raise some funds - and Kristin is willing to help, bless her! 

Representing Canada at the World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France was one of the proudest moments of my life. Duathlon (run bike run) is not my favourite multisport - triathlon IS! Again, like France, I'd want to visit some of Scandinavia on a rental touring bike as Bird and I did. Kristin is eager to do just that with me - although we may opt for touring on horseback rather than cycling due to the race distance I'll be doing. how can I turn this down? I don't think its in me to do so ... And today Tin and I discussed fundraising strategies and I shared some of the post-race preliminary research & ideas ... We are already psyched to explore Sweden & Iceland on Icelandic horses! 

The date for the World is the same as for EPIC Dartmouth. I am sad to miss my favourite home-turf triathlon event weekend. I am excited that it means that some of my triathlon friends will be training for that race or 70.3 Mont Tremblant the week before. It means having training buddies which is huge!!!

Aside from the Worlds, I'm in the process of deciding what I want to do with the balance of my season. Maybe a 70.3 within driving distance which means the USA. Or it could be fun to return to the Olympic distance and do several throughout Atlantic Canada - I'd love to get over to Newfoundland to race but I'm not sure my piggy bank will permit. I have the desire to do a Grand Fondo and have my eye on the one in Prince Edward Island in August. There are plenty of possibilities but I do know I need to build my 2015 calendar beyond the Worlds so I don't feel like my racing season is over too early - as it has felt this year.

Now I just need to put aside some cash to meet the September registration deadline ... Break the news to Barry (mums the word please - he never reads my blogs) that I'll be back into long course training and racing albeit not technically an Ironman ... He'll not be coming - he and I will go somewhere non tri related and of his choosing = compromise! 

This is the end of my IronBird Lake Placid blog with the exception of me posting 3 related exciting photos when they can be taken and posted. 

Thank you for reading this blog. There will be others to come so stay tuned for more Moka adventures. I will post links on this blog in case you can't find them.

In the meantime, take care and dream big!

To be continued ...