The Ironman Experiment: This is it - Don't get scared now

Don’t stress over how hard it’s going to be.
You will suffer, you know that.

The above quote was taken from a forum on Ironman St. George, people are starting to argue and freak out over the overall course difficulty. From the bike to the run, its a hilly mofo. Things like this induce fear and panic in people. And I would be lying if I did not tell you that yes, I feel fear. Fear is healthy. Fear is needed, fear lets you know you are alive - right? But I do not feel fear in the paralyzing sense that people think of fear meaning. Take for instance today's long ride.

Our training plan slated a 4+ hour ride and since IMSG is nothing but hills, hills, hills, we are training this way. We chose to ride a local route called "EOP" or "End of Pavement" where the pavement literally ends past Canyon Lake. I now know its just so dang steep back there that who in their right mind would pave it anyway? ;) But its known for its challenging, steep, relentless climbing. PERFECT! So Josh and I planned the ride Saturday. This morning, Josh asked if I was nervous about the ride, as I was being uncharacteristically quiet. 'OF COURSE I am nervous, I am scared to do it, to put myself out there, suffer for hours...but this is what we must do. Face the things we are scared of head on." For when we do this, we learn we are capable of so much more than we thought. I mean I am looking to ride 112 miles in the middle of a 2.4 mile swim and 26.2 mile run. How can I be afraid of a 60 mile ride? Let's do it!

The ride was, of course a challenge, everything we set out to do lately is pushing our limits - fatiguing our bodies so that we can build new muscle, new endurance, new mental capacity to handle the pain, fatigue and endless hours and miles. But most of all - it was fun, and it was beautiful and it was yet another day I got to live my life doing what I love - what's so scary about that? Absolutely nothing!

~Jen