Ready?

Today someone asked me if I was ready for the Ironman.

My answer was "no."

And I feel that at this point - eight weeks out - it should be no. If I was ready now, I'm not sure what I would do for the next eight weeks. How difficult it would be to maintain a race-ready peak for that long. I don't want to be able to answer "yes" to that question until the morning of September 13.

Now, if I'd been asked if I feel like I'm where I should be, I'd have to also answer "no." My cycling is there - exactly where it should be. My running is coming along and should be at the right place in the next couple of weeks. But my swimming is still lagging behind. I'm in the pool at least 2 days (hopefully 3) and in open water 2 days this week. I'm hoping that I'll inch closer and closer to where I need to be so that by September 13 I'll be there.

And because of the swimming issue, my mind isn't quite where it should be. I think July has just been a tough month mentally. I've been in kind of a holding pattern with the training in my pre-push phase. It is kind of like my base-building phase from last January/February, but not as exciting because, unlike last January when everything was new and exciting, it been kind of the same ol' thing. I'm hoping with the final push phase and the increase in training volume and intensity, my mind will be able to focus more.

I'm hoping.