Ch.4 the "aftermath" or, letting it all sink in, or, analyzing and planning for the future! ha!  after 3 days of hugeness 25lbs of extra fluids on my body, I lost it by sweating up a storm on the wknd after race-whew! Feel good but tired, not sore, just tired.  Biked sat, su, mon. easy and sitting on wheels and legs 30felt good, pulse was low.  My eating is back to normal-whew.  Short jogs the next week on alternate days to my swims-super easy and I can tell my legs haven't come back to the run.  Nothing hurts, just slowwwwwwww. 2nd wknd after I'm back on the bike w/the group and riding stronger but still staying protected and watching HR and fluids.  Feel good enough to try a brick on Sat. in the wind and heat; 45 bike, 4.5 run feels like nothing-so short! ha!  I'm looking foreward to my next race already and trying to plan.  I feel like I'd like to do BSLT 70.3 but will consult my wide variety of Ironman friends on what is smart.  Looking back:  IM race morning HR was 160; yes, that's right-was it nerves? I wasn't nervous-was it a blown HR reading? since it stayed 160-161 through-out the bike, run until I slowed run pace, maybe... I've had that happen before with the belt not seated right on the chest and man that plays with your head.  Even when you back it up with perceived exertion and that read-out is saying everything's right-relax, I couldn't help thinking I was getting dehydrated or something... I tried to drink enough- I didn't.  I tried to take enough electrolytes-I didn't.  So those are things to work on if I ever do one of these again.  Nutrition: the 5th key to Ironman! and when you think you've done it all and prepared well, you still have stuff to learn :)  In the pool this morning I did a nice warmup, 6x100's pulling on 1:30 w/10 sec rest,  then 6x100's free on 1:30 w/20 sec rest, then a little 400 for good measure with some backstroke thrown in to stretch everything back out.  Definitely feeling normal again now!