Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Iron Anxiety.

I was reading Neoprene Wedgie's blog about his Iron-mares and it reminded me of the nightmare I had a few days ago.
I used to have nightmares about not making it to class in time, or suddenly realizing I'd 'forgotten' to go to class all semester long and showing up on final exam day. Baboo and I referred to these as the "graduate school dreams." I've come to appreciate that pretty much anyone in a long=term, high-anxiety situation has dreams that are similar in nature.

So in my ironman I forgot my bike. And my wetsuit. I had nothing to wear and nowhere to go AND I was late for the swim. I had my fastskin, but the water was going to be really cold.

So, in the dream, I showed up at this small lake, which was connected to a fountain at the mall. That's where the swim took off from. The swimmers were already gone. These fountains where people were swimming were all connected by underground conduits and you had to hold your breath and swim underwater to get from one to the next. Since I was late to the swim I didn't know which direction the swimmers had taken...so was running through this MALL in my fastskin asking people, 'which way did the Ironman swimmers go?' and everyone was like, 'what ironman swimmers?' and I was thinking, in the dream, how could you miss a couple thou swimmers?

Anyway, in the dream, I still couldn't figure out where everyone was, and I was afraid of being trapped underwater in one of the conduits going the wrong way. I asked the spectators where everyone was, they just looked and me dumbly and said, "they all left all ready. You need to hurry!" So there I was, no bike, late start, still hadn't started swimming, but then, for some reason, I decided to go shopping and buy some Ironman stuff.

Stupid anxiety. Stupid dreams.

Like I need another reason to be freaked out about this whole thing.

Current estimates are that the lake at CDA may "warm up" to 57 or so degrees. Okay, the only thing I have to say about that is: maybe I should hang onto some body fat. I will be working on speed and practicing in my new long-sleeve wetsuit soon, and starting around the 23rd, I'll be heading up to Lake Cochiti every week to do a 2.2 mile swim. I think the lake at Cochiti is into the 50s now.
In other news, I put in over 400 miles on the bike in April. For me, who is lazy and dislikes cycling, that is unheard of. I'd like to finish the bike in 8 hours this time, if possible. It's going to be cooler and less humid, which is a plus.
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12 comments:

  1. Misery loves company, right? So I'm "glad" to hear you're having nighttime terrors too!

    - Wedgie

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  2. I've heard the Toaster Strudel causes nightmares ;-)

    Great job with all those bike miles. I hope the bike time is feeling more comfortable.

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  3. 57 degrees is doable and Cochiti will prepare us!
    :)

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  4. Wow freaky dream, But at least you got some cool stuff out of it :)

    Can you wear one of those neoprene swim caps?

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  5. Anonymous8:38 AM

    I love the part of your dream where you decide to shop for IM stuff!

    Wow...that's some serious bike miles for April. Nice job!!

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  6. That's some crazy mileage on the bike! I am sure I will have marathon nightmares before the marathon in Oct!

    Em

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  7. I can relate! Before my HIM last week I had several "late to the race" dreams.

    You'll do great! In spite of calling yourself lazy, you train hard (like an Ironwoman, who would've thought!)

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  8. I've had similar dreams about events.

    My most favorite was "swimming" the Chicago Marathon route. I was doing the freestyle through the air. It was really quite cool.

    Lake at 50 some degrees? Please remember that wetsuit!

    Congrats on 400 miles on the bike.
    You are an inspiration!

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  9. Good bike mileage for April.

    57deg seems very cold to me. Hope that works out okay for you.

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  10. That is a really crazy dream!

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  11. I did CDA last year and when we practiced two days before I had an ice cream headache for 20 minutes. The day before I timed how long it took for the pain to subside and it was about 3 minutes. The day of the race I remember thinking "My toes are cold, my fingers are frozen, CRAP that was the start cannon, swim swim swim elbows keep your goggles on swim swim breathe out breathe in" then I was on my bike, wondering why I never felt cold. It never occurred to me that the water was even chilly on race day. Don't let the temperature bother you.

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  12. I have no doubt that you're gonna spank CDA! 8 hours? Piece o'cake!

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 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...