Nervous? Hells Yes.

    It is no secret, I am feeling more than a little nervous about having registered for, and committed myself to running a Half-Ironman. "Committed," key word here... should I be committed? Sent away to an asylum to protect me from myself. Maybe so. I do push myself too far too often. The crux of it is that I know I need to be able to push myself, this is no simple 10K or Sprint Triathlon I am gearing up for, but I am damn near damaging myself. Brain is having to monitor Body very closely these days, there are too many little tweaks that could end up being major issues that cause major downtime. But instead of finding myself committed to the local Institute for the Athletically Insane I am finding that I have committed myself to a worthy endeavor. I  have written my name on the register, tossed my hat in the ring, toed the line, and more importantly, I have sucked it up and paid the entry fee. Let me tell you, paying the fee hurt. Triathlons are not cheap, and the further you go the more expensive they get. I am hoping to be able to afford three shorter distance Tris this summer as preludes to the Big Event, but if not, I will make myself map out a route and do them on my own. I will at least do one Tri in July, an event I have looked forward to since last summer, and I will do the Olympic distance.
    Running will be the key. I need to continue to build my running base without injuring myself. Happy to say, my knees seem to be holding up decently. The problem that has plagued me for nearly 2 months now is my strained piriformis muscle, my "Pain in the Butt" strain. It has caused a pinched nerve so I am getting tingling and numbness down the back of my left leg all the way down to my heel. It feels extremely weird to run on it when it is acting up. I am not even sure when/where/how I strained it. But I try to ignore it, and am doing a lot of stretching and strengthening exercises in an attempt to remedy it. So far, nothing is helping. So I run anyway. If I am not hyper aware of it when I am running it will make me alter my stride just enough that I have had a few calf muscle issues to add to the list. Like I said, I do push myself too far too often. I must be careful.
    I continue to swim, and love the water. Open water swims are next on the aquatic agenda. I need to get out and get my face into the phobia-inducing murky water, and to quell my "Monster-in-the-Deep-waiting-to-grab-my-leg-with-slimy-tentacles-and-drag-me-into-the-weeds-to-suck-the-flesh-from-my-bones" concerns. I know. I am a dork. Too many late night scary monster movies in my youth has obviously wrought permanent damage to my psyche.
    Cycling is the one area that gives me the fewest qualms. Yes, 50 miles is a bit of a ride, but it is something I can train for easily enough. And I have Joshua up on rollers in the living room so I can put in time, work on my cadence, and build stamina and endurance. A bike on rollers will work the same muscles as a bike on the road, unlike running on a treadmill which does help with running to a degree but cannot replace road runs.
    I will continue to push, trying to ride the rim of  Too Much without falling into the morass of pain and injury. The best way to get a grip on my nerves is to know in my heart that I have trained to the best of my abilities, and am as ready as I can be when I step into the water at 8am for the swim start.
    Nervous? Hells Yes.   Excited? Abso-fucking-lutely.