Post ART and Unmentionables...

Well, my legs didn't fall off or anything uber-dramatic after my ART therapy last Tuesday. In fact, well, they feel pretty springy.

Not exactly sure that 'springy' and 'Ironman' training should be allowed in the same sentence, let alone the same realm, but there you have it.

Furthermore...(yes, there is more)...the left side - which received significantly more ART than the right - feels a lot better than the right. Woa. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. And during today's transition run, I was pleasantly surprised at how eventually the legs came around.

I say eventually, because as of late, it takes longer and longer (and longer) for my body to really get warmed up and acclimated to the task at hand. Running takes the longest. Something about carrying all of your own body weight sans pool or two-wheeled self-propelled vehicle, I guess...Once I've actually reached that desired warmed-up state, then I feel as though I could go forever. Um, another product of Ironman-training, I'm told.

So in the mean time, I'll stick with the ART, thanks. Even if I blurt out mid calf-flush that, "I'd rather be giving birth RIGHT NOW!" Suffice to say, I wouldn't last long under torture. But when it gives this Ironperson-in-training 'springy' legs six weeks out from the Big Race, well, I'm sold.

Not that I'm counting or anything.

In other news, I'm doing a local sprint race this Sunday and couldn't be more excited! Cue: me jumping up and down! I get to race (knock on wood!). My last sprint triathlon was in May 2007, out in Panama City Beach, Florida. Wow. 2 years... I realize that my warm-up will singlehandedly be longer than the actual race itself. It takes me oodles of time to get warmed up at this point....

So a 30 minute run + 30 minute bike + 20 minute swim. Well...that will feel like forever. Then again, swimming for 20 minutes requires that I physically get into the ocean. And we all know how I feel about the Critters in there. Especially the Unmentionables with Really Big Teeth. They are there. And They are waiting.

One of my good friends out here - Dr. Shannon (CONGRATULATIONS ON EARNING YOUR PhD, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!) - joked that by doing the race I would HAVE to get in the ocean to swim. She's been trying to get me to do a La Jolla Cove or Shores swim with her. But there's just something about the Open Ocean and the Things In It that completely freak me out.

I blame my overly-active imagination. Cultivated, I might add, by a morbid curiosity as a child. Nope, curiosity didn't kill this cat (yet - again, knock on wood), but it sure as hell scared it.

I'm fine with lakes. I love lakes. Even the alligator-infested on that I did an open-water swim in last year (I didn't find that tidbit out until AFTER I had finished my solo cool-down swim. Only then did the race director joke about the resident population.) - was at the time (before I found out about the buggers) great.

So what is it about the Ocean?

Well, it's not really the Ocean itself. I LOVE the ocean, have always been drawn to the waves, the smells, the sound. Nope - its just the Unmentionables with Really Big Teeth. Damn, I knew that I shouldn't have watched Jaws countless times as a kid. When I was three I complained about taking a bath, claiming that, "sharks will come through the drain!"

It's true. They do.

Drain Sharks.

And every pool and mega-sized bath tub has them.

So, there you have it.

Come Sunday, I'll be the girl doing the ridiculously long warm-up, probably still sporting a few bruises on my legs from an especially deep ART massage, and standing along the shore's edge swearing that each ripple is...well.... you know.

But once that horn sounds and I run full-stop into the water? Well - that's a different story all together. Game on! Because I've been waiting for this moment - chomping at the bit, ready to suffer, and excited about pushing myself harder than I though possible in a sprint triathlon - for a really really long time.

Let's just hope that the legs can catch up to where the heart and the head want to be. I have a feeling that, while it may be ugly and pretty painful, they'll do just fine.

Cheers to everyone racing this weekend! Good vibes, good luck, and GO GET 'EM!