Karen writes: Home and the hard work starts

I’m home, and didn’t feel like running with my dodgy knee, so squished into the wetsuit for a good swim up and down Maraetai beach (about 1.8km).   The swell was fairly stiff, and I could feel my right arm working harder than the left as it had to lift me up to miss the waves as they tried to break in my face with each breath, but it went ok until I was on the way back.   There weren’t as many people down the eastern end of the beach, and I had at last gotten into my stroke so wasn’t thinking of much at all…until my hand, the hand on the side away from the beach, hit something solid and glanced off.   I now know that you can scream underwater!   I floundered for the beach, thinking there was no way I was going to get back in the water again…but I did, however I was very relieved when I got further down the beach and there were more people around.  I probably spooked a few by swimming between them and the beach but I figured it was worth it for the reassurance that they would get sampled before me in the unlikely event that there was something out there with ‘swimmer’ on the menu.   I have just counted up the swims in the programme for the next 4 weeks…sigh…there are 8 of them, still plenty of opportunity to be dinner for something (I am joking...I think).

Here at the pointy end of the training I look at this 5 week block of the programme and think there is nothing in there I can’t cope with.  The longest ride is 130km, the longest run 24km, and there is a lot more ‘brick’ or ‘back-to-back’ work.  I have however found myself thinking that I had expected I would be so much fitter (and skinnier but that is another story) by now.  I am going to be an Ironman, shouldn’t I be able to do almost anything with ease?   But I cant, I still have heavy legs sometimes, bits hurt, getting out of bed doesn't get any easier, and I continue to loathe the first half hour of any exercise.

There was obvious evidence of benefit though, like being able to run up the sand-dunes at Ocean beach and outpace my children with ease...I now don't need to have a nap and spend the rest of the day semi-catatonic after doing some exercise...AND I can eat another slice (or two) of Christmas cake without guilt...these are pretty cool things!