Karen writes: New interesting IM website

Swim 2.2km, and run 11km today, the run went well, so well that I happily pounded the road harder than usual and got a blister in a new place for me, on the ball of my foot.   Been feeling a bit (well a lot) fragile about swimming though, and the fact that I am at this advanced stage of training and not racing through the water with effortless ease worries me enough to keep looking for online material to say that this is...well...normal.  There was some helpful stuff in the Ironstruck website, reinforcing the fact that thousands of ordinary people do IM successfully every year, but many more are put off because of what they see as their lack of swimming ability, the difference is that those who become IM are more determined and just keep on working and working at it.  Ah, that's me, nothing if not determined...inept, but determined.

Lots of interesting things in this website actually, one page I particularly liked talks about after the ironman.  You don't usually give much thought to 'after' when actually getting through it at all still seems such a distant thing (was going to say 'unlikely' thing, but I don't actually believe that).  Anyway, there were lots of practical things about how you are likely to feel (sore), what to do (rest and eat)...and what next (another IM).  Importantly, it reminded the reader that there will never be another 'first' and to treasure this achievement.

So, on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being 'cant leave the couch', and 10 being 'ready to race', today I feel like I am a 7 in terms of readiness, that's a pretty good place to be!