I'm a girl, and I obsess

Today I went for a 2 1/2 hour bike ride. I had two goals: 1) Take no rest breaks (with the exception of the stoplights by my house--I can't help those) and 2) Ride at a comfortable pace that I can sustain for a long period of time without stopping, a pace that leaves me with steam so I can run afterwards. (The rest of the season is not about "racing" it's about "surviving!")

Well, I succeeded at both my goals. I felt like a rider in the tour (sans the drug scandals) while I reached in my back pocket, grabbed a powerbar, downed half of it while riding. I'm also getting quite good at messing with my water bottles while on the bike, too. It was a good comfortable ride. I did almost 36 miles in 2 1/2 hours, which is good for an average Joe, but it isn't great for an aspiring triathlete. It worries me a bit for my upcoming half IM.

Isn't crazy that you can start obsessing about your next race while your body still aches from the last one?

Anyways, if I can swim oh, say, in 50 minutes. That's a realistic goal. At the bike pace I did today, I'm looking at almost a 4 hour bike ride. I think I need a minimum of 3 hours for the run (my half mary's without a swim and bike, in 70 degree weather, have all come in between 2:25 and 2:35.) I need to give myself at least 3 hours for the run and pray that it doesn't go even longer. That gives me a finish time around 7:50. Which is quite funny, because another blogger recently finished hers in 7:50 and she came in last. I run that risk. The other thing I worry about? My coach is coming to watch.

My coach has a couple of us that are doing the 5430 half IM, and one of his clients is currently getting certified to become a coach. I think she's pretty good. So he's going to have a couple of rock stars, and then the girl that comes in last place. That won't bode well for his bragging rights, but he knew what he was getting into when he agreed to take me on.

I read on somebody else's blog today - "A DNF (did not finish) is still better than a DNS (did not start)" and I don't intend to have either next to my name. If nothing else, I'm going to have numbers next to my name that state that I showed up, and I finished.

I just need to know that I'm going out there, and I'm going to do the best that I can do. It's still going to be a super achievement. You can do this Turtle! You can!

On another note-I noticed today that we're now 99 days out from Florida. We're no longer in the 3 digit numbers. That puts a little lump in my throat.