What a Twit

I'm on Twitter.

I thought this would be a good way to just throw around random thoughts about my Kona training without stressing about having to write up full stories about everything. The way Twitter works, people start to follow you and you get to follow them, and what do you know- some of the biggest names in Ironman are tweeting! I should follow them to see what they're up to!

Big mistake.

Right now, I don't need to hear about Macca's 7500 feet of climbing and his 4 mile swim. I don't want to know that Chris Lieto is already in Kona- OMG, am I late?! Should I be there by now?! Michael Lovato made the podium at the Branson 70.3; good for him but that doesn't help me.

I felt a connection with the other competitors in Coeur d'Alene and Wisconsin. Obviously I knew some of them personally, but I also followed blogs of other "normal people" talking about their training leading up the race. I could identify with them. But Kona? I read these tweets and press releases and I feel like I'm not even in the same race. Even the non-pros: these are not my people. The only online presence of anyone I can remotely relate to is "Dale Tweedy" who won a lottery slot in 2008 and blogged about his experience. That's it.

I've had one smug feel-good moment on twitter. Chris Lieto tweeted: "Heading out for a run in the heat. 91f is good enough for heat test, right?" Lemme talk to you about heat. I slept in most weekends this summer, scheduling my runs so that regardless of distance, they would usually end around noon. 2-hour run? 10-noon. 4-hour run? 8-noon. Many if not most of those runs were in the mid-to-upper 90s by the time I finished. Some broke 100. You want to say Hawaii is more humid than L.A.? Fine. I spent 9 days in North Carolina and ran 10 miles with a heat index of 105. Also had an 18-miler out there. You may think that I'm trying to make it sound like I trained in tougher conditions than Chris Lieto. And you know what? At times I did. Maybe I didn't swim and bike and run as much as everyone else but what I did do, I did in the heat. I need this ONE thing to make me feel like my training is somewhat comparable to what everyone else seems to be doing. Please don't take it away from me.