Race time, finally!!

Finally I get to race this weekend. The day to day grind of training gets old. I have not raced since October so almost 5 months have gone by. This is normal over the winter but what is making this year harder than most is that I started the training season in January. Normally I would have taken it easier over Jan. and Feb. but with IM St. George coming in May I had to start training early.

This weekend will be my warm up for IMSt.G. It is the Tall Texan Half Iron in Boerne. A very small race (only 75 people total are signed up) but I am looking at it as a training day more than anything. This is my one chance to test out my nutrition and gear prior to St. George. In fact the cold winter we have had this year means that the temperatures (60 degree water, 50 degree air) will be about the same as Utah will be in May. I am nervous about freezing to death on the bike because I will be wet, but I think putting on a long sleeve jersey over my tri suit in T1 will keep the chill away until I am dry. The adrenaline will be flowing too, so I may not notice the air temp. when coming out of the water.

Random Thought:
With my IM coming soon I was thinking the other day that I am not going to know what to do with myself after May 1st. The rest of my year will consist of maybe 2 HIMs and some Olympic races. I have become so used to 12-14 hour training weeks that cutting back to 8-10 hour weeks is going to free up a lot of time for family activities, but it is also going to feel wierd to have all the free time.

I will post a race report next week.

Panic first Acceptance second

Is it normal 8 weeks out from an Ironman to be in a panic about training volume? In a way I hope so because I would know that I am normal. Have i done enough? Have I done too much? Why did I ever think I could do this anyway? The time is coming soon and all of the sudden I am starting to realize how many days I have left to get in shape. 8 weeks seems like a long time but a closer look reveals that it is acutally more like 5 or 6 weeks. There is 2 weeks of taper and one of those weeks is race week so it will be spent mostly travelling or at pre-race festivities. Then there is Spring Break. Next week I will be taking an entire week off to go skiing. Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to the trip, it has been planned for at least a year. and in fact I think that it is a perfect time to do it. As a familt we need some time together and I am sure everyone will be happy to see my bike parked for a week.

At this point I have been going uninterrupted for almost 12 weeks and my body needs a break from the constant SBR, but my mind is having thoughts of those extra few miles that I wont be putting in. It is not like I will be sitting around all week. 2 or 3 days of skiing for 4 hours a day at altitude is just as good a workout but when all you do day in and day out is Eat, Sleep, Swim, Bike, Run, your body has trouble adjusting to not doing that.

I keep reminding myself of the story of Roger Bannister (first person to break the 4 minute mile). He was training hard for weeks on end and got to a point where no matter how hard he tried he had hit a wall. He was actually posting slower times even though he was working harder than ever. His coach told him to take a week off, so he went mountain climbing and did not even think about running for a week. After getting back, he broke through the funk and became the fastest man in the world and first to break the 4 minute barrier. Plus all the great coaches say that rest and recovery are where the greatest gains in fitness are made.

So in two weeks I have a Half Ironman and if this rest and recovery thing is true it will be the best Half IM I have ever raced.

I will let you know.