I've Suddenly Become a Fan of Iron Distances!

Finishing up the second week in San Diego…the weather is finally treating us a bit better. The sun has come out and starting to warm up the area (of course we still have to deal with rain showers but what can you expect in Southern California in the Spring?) so training is much nicer. Today we had “open water” practice in the pool during swim practice…hilarious…I, of course, would much rather be at the beach and in the ocean to practice “open water” but I understand that it takes time and planning to drive everyone to the beach. Instead, we put buoys in the pool and do mass starts off the side of the pool for race simulations (not so sure how many of our races this is actually “simulating”…but its tons of fun and makes practice go by so much faster than just doing sets and swimming laps)!!
After breakfast and a bit of down time, I headed out for my long aerobic run at noon because I had heard that the rain was going to arrive in the afternoon. It was a smart decision on my part because the rain did come later, but the wind was out in full force during my run! I did a bit of an ‘out-and-back’ course and had a nice cooling headwind on the first half, and then on the way back to the training center I’m hot and sweaty because I don’t have a nice breeze keeping me cool. I was very happy with how my run felt…it’s a lot different this year…long runs are not pure TORTURE for me, they are actually enjoyable now! It’s a start toward becoming a ‘runner’ and I’ll take it!
So read about the AMAZING news I heard this morning: http://www.silvermannv.com/index.html. This is the web-site for the Silverman Full-Distance (Ironman) Triathlon. They have just announced that they will give $100,000 to the first relay team that finishes the race in under 8 hours. This is HUGE! The race course is regular Ironman distances: 2.4mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. I did some research on last years results (the first year the race was held) and the winning time was by a relay in 9:37. The course is VERY difficult (except for the swimmer of course) with 9,700 feet of climbing on the bike course and 2,000 feet of climbing on the run. So the most important thing is a biker who can time-trial AND climb…and can ride the 112 miles in 4:30 to 4:45 hours. Then the marathoner has to go between 2:15 and 2:30. Its not a big time spread for the swimmer, under 45 minutes would be ideal (of course I can do that!)…under 40 would be flying!
Oh my gosh…I would LOVE to be on the team that does it! Don’t you think it is important that the team be COED…and of course the only place for the female is on the swim…and of course I’m the perfect girl for that! I’ve already got my name being spread to the people putting teams together…I’m even willing to take less than 1/3 of the prize (I will be the first to admit that 5 hours on a bike is a bit more grueling than 45 minutes in a lake)!
Now I’ve got to calm down, get my head out of the clouds, feet back onto the ground and get back to my studies! Later, Gators:)!