Mary Eggers

You will rarely hear me complain abut Ironman training. Mostly because I love it. Mostly because I know and understand what an absolute privilege it is to be able to do this. And did I mention how much I love it?

However there are those days, the ones close to race day…. where things seem to fall apart…. and you panic. Today I had one of those days.

If things are going to feel like they are falling apart… this is the week that they will. Every single one of my athletes has faced some sort of mini-disaster in the past 2 weeks and today I had mine.

6:15 I set out on my final 20 miler. I was ready, pumped. Last week I had nailed 21 miles in 3:08 so today must mean I’d nail 22 in less time. Naturally.

At mile 3 I felt tired. At mile 4 the pain in my left leg began. deep, deep within my quad. Deep. I mean so deep that I self diagnosed with a stress fracture and catastrophosized so deeply that I began to cry and then began to walk.

Yes, I actually cried. A pity party. Boo Hoo poor Mary.

I walked 1/2 mile.

And then the pain began to ease. I stopped, stretched, shook things out. I looked at the sky.

And at that point, after all of that I then decided that I had do do the unthinkable. I had to stop at mile 9. Weighing in on the fine line between too much and just enough….. the point of no return….. I knew that rest at this point was the better choice. And it was the harder choice.

At what point in my life did “just 9 miles” become only 9 miles?

I started to run again, I can’t be seen walking! So I ran and the pain eased to an ache. I picked up the pace, if this is going blow let it blow. Pain remained at a 1/10 when previously it was a 6/10. I finished strong. So my thoughts veered away from a stress fracture and turned to a deep muscle ache.

I came home and jumped on training peaks. And I went back to January 1st 2007, and I reviewed all of my long bikes and my long runs. I wrote it down on a piece of paper.

I handed it to Curt.

“Am I ready?” I asked him.

“You are the worst rester.” He said “But hell I think you are ready.”

And what does Curt know about the Ironman anyways? Hell he’s done just 2 But he’s right. I am ready.

From here on the more we push through the more it will adversely affect our time. The more we rest and listen to our bodies the better July 22nd will be. Right now I feel like a truck ran over me. Sunday after our ride I felt like Natasha Badmann. But that’s how it goes here in the land of Iron. There are ups and there are downs. Being on a down means that an up is coming.

So the rest of the day it’s rest. I have been so good about clearing my schedule, I have the opportunity to rest and sit back. And resting and sitting back has taken the form of long days at Kershaw park with Luc. I stand thigh deep in the water and if I am lucky I run into Tom’s awesome wife Jen or Nathalie.

The panic has ended. The worst is over. I had mine too, and keep calling and keep emailing because we are all going through it together.

But know, know, know…… it happened to me also.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mary Eggers