The Most Dangerous Spreadsheet Ever

         So my goal finishing time for Ironman CdA has been 11:30: 1:20 for the swim, 5:50 on the bike, 4:00 for the run and 2 ten minute transitions.  This goal will definitely be a challenge.  It will require that I not panic during the swim, that my bike strength improve significantly, and that I run a marathon 5 minutes faster than I’ve run one before.  And that nothing mechanically go wrong on the bike ride or intestinally during the run.  Qualifying for Kona was more like a “yeah right, maybe if I have the perfect race and luck out with a weak age group,” but now that I’ve seen this spreadsheet, guess what’s going through my mind?  That’s right, if I can knock a measly 30 minutes off my goal time, I’ve got a reasonable shot.  Here’s how qualifying works: each Ironman race gets 60 Kona spots to distribute.  The bigger your age group, the more spots given to that age group.  So if women between 25 and 29 make up 5% of the race, they get 3 spots.  I figured my age group would be so small that only the winner would qualify, which I could probably only do given genetic enhancement or some miracle.  But around 5 spots?  Well, however irrationally, that gives me hope.  I know that goal inflation is really common in first-time Ironmen, so there probably is no chance of it happening.  But if it gives me motivation to work harder in all my workouts and I simply finish the race feeling great, then I’ll take it.

Anyway, here’s an update on the rest of last week’s training:

I came home from school on Thursday upset and generally hating life.  I haven’t been enjoying grad school that much recently, or at least I’ve been seriously questioning why I’m doing it and if it will lead me to a career I actually like.  Then I loaded some Ironman motivation videos on Youtube and finished my bike ride from the morning.  30 minutes later, I felt great.  I hadn’t felt good about a workout for most of the week, but this one made me feel powerful and ready to do more.  Maybe it was seeing three and a half minutes of people collapsing on the course that gave me the extra energy, maybe it was the Americano I had in lab that didn’t kick in until I got home.  Whatever it was, I got off the bike feeling more positive than I had in a while.  It reminded me that physical and mental discomfort are only temporary, and that they’re worth it in the end.  I’m still going to explore some other options related to grad school, but I’m more optimistic that I’ll find something that is enjoyable and fulfilling without leaving science.

I watched a cool documentary during Saturday’s 2 hour ride called Living is Winning.  It’s about Andrew Johnston, an Ironman who is diagnosed with leukemia and returns to racing after treatment.  This week’s piece of motivation comes from that movie.  Incidentally, Andrew qualified for Kona at Ironman Coeur d’Alene... 

Motivation:

“Are you breathing? Then you can finish the race.”