The Little Things

With six weeks to go, the time starts to become long. You get to the point where you want to just do it! Bring it on! I am confident that right now I could complete the distance, however this next little while is some of the training that can make or break a race. It is like the sculptor who has hewed all the big chunks off the piece of granite and is now into the fine detailing. It is the little things you work on now. Maintaining focus, constantly monitoring form, evaluating your efficiency are all the elements that I will need to take care of over the upcoming weeks.
In addition there are the other "administrative" things to take care of. Travel arrangements, equipment, and arranging for a "once over" of the bike all need to be done over the next period of time. And the biggest thing that I HAVE to do, is taper. I am notorious for knowing that this is required but I can never get my head around it and actually do it. Because of the way I train, I always feel that I am peaking and that the rest required in a taper period will somehow make me lose my edge. Last year before IM Couer d'Alene I was forced to taper as I ended up with a calf injury two weeks prior to the race. The forced rest was in my opinion, the difference between a very enjoyable experience and a possible disaster. I finished the event feeling as good as I think you can after 140.6 miles. So I know that I will have to do this and I will this time around.
Workouts over the last few days have been good.
Tuesday: Great run at lunch. A little short on time so I ended up with 7.0 miles in 50:22. Evening workout was an hour and a half bike ride. Mostly working on strength. 26.8 miles at an average cadence of 87 RPM.
Wednesday: 58 minute swim at lunch - 2,650 metres - Main set was 3 x 400 metres - Warm up, a few drills, and cool down covered the rest of the distance. Stroke was much better today!
Quick evening run - 37 minutes - Few miles to warm up - 8 x 2 minute 10 K + pace and a cool down. Felt pretty darn good! Legs have lots of pop in them right now.
Finally finished my East of the Sun book. It was a very good read, but as previously mentioned a little tough due to all the Russian names of people and places.
Currently I am reading "A Year of Living Biblically", by A.J. Jacobs. So far it is hilarious as the writer tries to live a year by following the rules in the Bible literally.
On the iPod I am listening to the best of Eric Clapton, Nazareth's Greatest Hits, and Thin Lizzy. Old stuff but I recently found a new site to buy music from mp3fiesta.com. It has a large selection and CD's are $.99 and songs $.10. It has given me a good opportunity to get some stuff I had on vinyl onto CD. My iPod currently has 3,306 songs on it, and probably the most eclectic collection known to man!
Have a great day!