August flew by.  Now we're into September, and there are just over 5 weeks until Kona.  I put in a good block on August.  I came into August feeling really insecure about my fitness.  I know most people will think that is hard to understand, but I believe there is a difference between being "fit" and being "Ironman RACE fit".  I did not have an ideal July due to injury and illness, but I felt like I had time to get prepared.  That being said, I worked hard in August.  I drove myself into the ground at one point.  I lost 6 pounds, felt like it was an effort to get out of bed, so I decided to hang it up for a few days.  I have a friend who told me, if you never push yourself to the edge, you will never know where to find that limit.  Of course, that leads me to beat myself into the ground from time to time.  Guess what?  If you are logging a large amount of training every week, you better be ready to log a large amount of calories, and be ready to log a large amount of rest.  Between work and training, I got a little behind and it caught up with me.  But I've come out feeling stronger.

I left August concerned about my fitness and head into September feeling a little better about myself physically.  I have seen my swim improve in the last few weeks.  My cycling has never been too bad all summer, but I think it has improved as well.  My run, however, is still a work in progress.  I had my best session last night, so I am hopeful that I am turning a corner.  To top it off, I didn't wake up today feeling completely drained, so I know that at least my body is getting better at absorbing these run workouts.  So I've got that going for me, which is nice.  (Thank you Caddyshack!)  I have two good fitness tests in the next two weeks, and I'm hoping for promising results.  The 100 mile TT Saturday morning is not so much about riding 100 miles, as it is about doing a solid ride, paying attention to watts, focusing on nutrition, and recovering from a hard effort to have a good run Sunday.  Lots of Powerbars and Powergels tomorrow morning!  Plus it is a good opportunity to test out race wheels and helmets.  It's not often that I get to ride 4-5 hours in my aero helmet, so it's nice to make sure my head will not catch of fire.  Could be a fast day out on the QR CD0.1!  When I did this ride a year ago, I rode 100 in 4:10.  I'm not sure I have that fitness right now, but you never know unless you put it on the line.  The next week I will be at the Alabama Coastal Triathlon.  For one thing, ACME will be at the race as a sponsor, so Allen and I will be working.  But, I'm going to take a short break from work to race.  It is an Olympic distance race, which I love doing a month out from an IM.  I will know much more about my fitness level in the next few weeks.  From that point, there are only 4 weeks until to go.  I'll have a few more hard sessions, then it will be time to shut it down, get ready to travel, and get settled.  But right now, I don't need to get ahead of myself.