Taper week and Pre Race

Monday--bike commute only
Tuesday--RUN 4 miles in 40 mins, bike commute
Wednesday--RUN 2 miles

Tuesday's run was a random track workout. I joined the group but the XC teams and BBall teams had priority there, so we didn't do much in the way of a structured workout. I felt sluggish, heavy, tired, weak, and anxious.

Wednesday was with my doggie, who barely made it the mile. OK, she made it more like 0.84 miles.

Thursday I skipped the group run, but had a bundle of energy that I took out to Forest Park for a 3.2 mile walk. The sunshine, the cicadas, the green trees, crunch of limestone under my feet...

Friday TH and I drove down to the race. Still felt sluggish, I tried to nap in the early afternoon. Finally in the last few hours of prep I got the nervous twittery feeling.

On the drive to TH, I heard many soundtrack songs on the radio--Party Rock Anthem, Even If It Breaks Your Heart, and more. I listened to my 2012 soundtrack, many of the songs resonate and inspire.

My race evening was mentally disorganized, I was a bit bumbly and tired. But I had most everything planned on in my notes beforehand thankfully. I ate a very tiny dinner, having eaten a big brekkie and lunch. I'm good to go!

The last weekend, with a run in the rain

Saturday RIDE 40 mins and 12-13 miles
Sunday RUN ~80 mins and 7.4 miles
Sunday RIDE 60 mins and 17-18 miles

The riding was indoors sadly. It was a beautiful weekend, but I wanted to be able to control everything, including my effort and stop time. That and I wasn't terribly motivated. Something about tapering kills my momentum.

The run was great, we visited Klondike Park as sort of a fun "destination run". It's too far of a drive to so any other time. There was a light rain all morning--it made a quiet whisper on the trees, the river, the sand bed we rested at. I just closed my eyes and that's all I could hear--the whisper of rain all around me.

I'm feeling great heading into the final week, with the biggest problem being abundant energy and low momentum.

Taper Pains and Gains

Monday complete rest
Tuesday RUN 7 miles in 63 mins, bike commute
Wednesday BIKE 18 miles in 60 mins, bike commute
Thursday RUN 6.6 miles in 53:08, bike commute
Friday (hasn't happened yet! A swim maybe?)

I think I'm past the taper pains--those random aches and muscle twinges that come with the taper. As I understand them, in part they are due to muscles loosening up, with some muscles doing so at different rates as a neighboring muscle, thereby causing imbalances and problems. They came and went fast last week.

Now I'm in the taper gains phase. LOTS of energy, ideas, plans, urges to train. Today's FP group run was fast and easy, I definitely had another gear if I had wanted it. I was keeping up with DC! Although admittedly I don't think I had much of a gear remaining, but who knows?!

On Tuesday I learned that B2B is actually ON my birthday in 2014, so that will be my Birthday Iron! How selfish :) "Happy Birthday to me! 9 months of training!"

I'm having doubts about 3DoS. It would mean I'm training steady through the winter into the spring, recovering, then jumping into 140.6 training. It would also mean I'd need to cross train through the early 2014 months in order to get a jump on it and not be a ground zero come April. As I'm learning right now, when the peak and taper arrive, even though there's time, need, and benefit to cross training I don't get it done. So if I'm increasing my running even more to train for 3DoS, that means I'm subtracting even further from full tri training.

That and the rocks. I keep hearing about rocks on the course. My ankles are protesting the idea.

I have big goals for next year, do I really need 3DoS to round that out? I want to do a 5K OWS, a gravel grinder, 2 140.6 distance tris, there will likely be a few 70.3 prep races...I really need to think about this.

But at the same time, I want to do 3DoS because I want to see if I can, because I don't think I can.

Fenton run and volunteer

RUN: 56 mins and 6.2 miles

This run was remarkable for so many things. First off, it felt terribly easy and smooth and fast and ZOOM! Even though the pace wasn't crazy fast, it just seemed like that next gear was right there if I wanted it. But I'm tapering, leave that gear alone.

Second, oh so gorgeous! I started at 6am in the near-dark. It was just light enough out to see without the headlamp or even streetlamps. The waning moon was a silver crescent in the southern sky. No wind. A few clouds that highlighted red, then orange, then brilliant white as the sun rose. The only noise was the signing bugs and frogs in the trees lining the trail. At times I could hear the nearby river flowing, freshly filled with last night's rain. Blown leaves and tree bits were scattered on the trail.

The only other noises were my footfalls, my heartbeat, my breathing. The whisper of rain. :)

After the run (and a "bath" in the facility) it was off to Flatlanders to volunteer. My buddy DC was running and I've never seen one of these races before. A few weeks ago, I'd have said I could "never" do one of these races. Never say never, another rule, and now I think I could try one!

The course was 1.4 miles around a park, so we saw our runners every 10-20 mins. Usually in a race we see them a few times, here was saw them 14-25 times! Each time you could gauge the runner's attitude--steady, waning, loving it, sweating it, fading, fighting--and each one was inspiring. The support every few minutes, the fight in the runners (especially the 12 hr runners, damn that's gotta be tough) inspired me. Last night before bed I was looking for more races like that.

And hearing my fellow SLUGS talk about how many of these runners will do the 6hr today then the Heartland Mary tomorrow--yikes!--but so cool! Could I do that?

Also talked to a SLUG about preparing for a long race (for him Poto 150!). He said learn to run on tired legs. Run 6-7 days a week, two a days, back to backs, get used to it. I was looking for advice on Syllamo. Great advice!

One more--got thinking again about my peaks and valleys of racing. I need a name for it, this pathology of depression post-race. I envy the people who can just roll it from race to race. DH says it's my mentality, how I'm wired. But I don't see that as a "never" can. I just see it as the next challenge.

Which brings me to the next rule (these need a name too).
--Never say never. Never limit yourself with "I could never...". Instead, start with "I wonder if I could..." and be open to the idea. Then work your way up to "I can and I will...".

Go Ape! run

RUN 1:35 and 8.3 miles

DC joined me and TV for this one in CCP. He hit his toe early in the run (early as in about 0.1 mi in!) and damn that bruise looked awful!

We loopty-looped the noodly trails in upper CCP. It was hot and steamy and I was for whatever reason anxious to get done. My mind kept saying "It's only 10 miles" so I didn't take it terribly seriously. I didn't tape the feets, brought the wrong Cascadia's (and the ones without the insoles!), and didn't bring the Camelbak. In the end I was thirsty, underfed, and blistered on both feet. The Cascadia 8.1's now have a bloody stain at the heel. What's one more stain?

We did a few repeats of the big hill at the very end. I think we named it Vascula hill? From that Killian article he saw on Friday.

For being "only" 8-some miles, this was a tiring run. And it felt WEIRD to be home by 11am.

Rule Development

This will be an post in draft version until finished.

I've decided on 8 rules, it's my favorite number. And it's two 3's face to face. And 3 is my most favorite number. And I couldn't limit myself to just 3 rules.

Another rule: Bee Positive! You'll be more bees with honey, as they say. Smile, enjoy what you're doing, and listen to the whisper of rain.

Lots of energy today, it was a day off! All I have to get done is my BRR shoe shopping spree. :)

The Death of Doubt

RUN 6.6 in a squeak under 55 mins, for an 8:20 m/m pace

Hot, humid, and summery this morning with the group. It's summer baby!

I start most posts for the Thursday run with some whine about how "I didn't think I could do it! Then OMG I did it!". It's getting old.

Time for the Death of Doubt. Out with it. With the trash.

I want to wake up and KNOW I can do something. Maybe I can't do it at the pace I want. Maybe tomorrow would have been a better day. Maybe thinks won't go just my way. But I KNOW I can do it.

This isn't new, really. I learned it with IMWI 2010. When I signed up I doubted myself. After I'd finished I realized just how strong desire can be, and just how motivating. I've been living it ever since.

Well to be honest, not really living it fully. I still wake up with doubts. [A common one: Can I keep up with DC?]. It's NORMAL to have doubts. It's not healthy, however, to let them rule your life.

In the run, I began to wonder why I wanted to sign up for 3DoS 2014. I hesitate because I DOUBT that I can do it! OK, that's a great reason to sign up and TRY IT.

If you're guaranteed success, then there's little thrill.

Sometimes I think I could come up with a list of rules to live by. It sounds so silly, but they keep floating around. I could hone it down to say 8 rules that govern me. What would the Doubt one be?

It's NORMAL to have doubts. It's not healthy, however, to let them rule your life. Embrace doubt and squash it like a python. :)