Loopty Loop! Loopty Loop! Loopty Loop!

Oh yeah, kids.  I FINALLY rode the "loops" of the IMWI course.  And with the theme of "one is never" enough, the past three weekends have been spent driving the 3 hours up to Madison, staying over night, biking 80 - 109 miles (and a couple of post bike runs), and then driving the 3 hours home.  The most painful part might have been my singing in the car to stay entertained.  :-)

Now I no longer have to hear from the IMWI finishers "What do you mean you haven't ridden the course YET?!?!"  Since I was suppose to ride the course in May and bailed at the last minute, I had a couple of weeks of those comments getting under my skin and the fear factor was starting to build more than I care to admit.  I kept thinking that the hills of the course were possibly worse than the Horribly Hilly course that I rode back in June - and if that was the case, I was going to have to post-pone my Ironman journey for another year.  Yep, extreme thinking at it's negative best! 

The IMWI bike course is 112 miles which consists of a 16 mile stretch to a 40 mile loop ( which is done 2 times) then the 16 mile stretch back.  Even though I had not ridden the course, I had read plenty of blogs, listened to a copy podcasts, and watched a cool video on Simplystu.com that covers the whole 112 miles in 30 minutes.  I some what knew what I was "riding" into, but after spending time on the course the past three weekends, I fully understand that the experience of the ride is immeasurable.  I have to drive an hour from my house to get off the pancake flat northshore Chicago roads and be able to switch gears a bit.  On the IMWI course, the gear changing gets a workout!  Uphill / downhill / false flat...constant descisions and finding the right gear without mashing the pedals is a bit of a challenge.

As tiring as the trips were the past couple of weeks, especially following the Racine 70.3 weekend, each weekend was worth the trip and a couple of lessons learned.  Mostly, I just need to keep my head in the game and enjoy the ride.  No doubt, it's a challenging course, but it's also pretty fun.  The last time riding the loop on Saturday I had some more positive thoughts going through my head than I had the previous weeks and I'm glad I had the chance to get familiar with the course and a couple of more chances at trying to nail down the nutrition piece.  Riding flat over the same distance just would not have given me the same frame of mind.

Heading into this Ironman training, I've had the mindset that the training will take care of the swim.  I've experienced a marathon twice to know what I'm getting into.  But my big concern was the bike - which is the biggest part of the day.  Rolling into the last couple of weeks before taper, I have a little more confidence in that area.  I'm going to finish out the next couple of weeks training "in a box" and I'm going to race "in a box" too. I'm not going to focus on what other people are doing, have done, or what their time is going to be.  I'm shooting to get to the start line and cross over the finish line.  Next year will be about setting time goals and hitting them.  This year it's about becoming an Ironman and it really doesn't matter what the heck that clock says - I will cross that finish line on September 11th and I will become an Ironman!

I had to include this photo to 1) thank SusieQ for taking care of Bixby during my playtime in the cheese state and 2) my 14 year old "pup" seems to be in her own Ironpup training!  After my long workouts she likes to try to keep extending her long walks!  Granted, the extra blocks sometimes makes me want to pack a snack...but she's such a trooper!