Tuesday, June 3, 2008

taper, cold, mixed feelings

It's Tuesday which means I leave the day after tomorrow and perhpas it would be a good idea to start packing...hmmm, for some reason I've been delaying this. I haven't even glued my tires, actually cuz I want to do that after my easy 1hr ride tomorrow morning so I don't have to switch 2 times (yes, i train with my rear zipp 404 cuz it's got the powertap hub on it and getting another hub for the training wheel is not in the budget right now hehe). I still have to go buy gels, Powerbar chocolate of course, and two water bottles since somehow I managed to loose 4 last wk.
My mom and brother get here this evening. Hopefully around 8ish because I still have to clean my apartment, not like it's messy but if you knew my mom you'd understand. Color coordinated, measured, and shiny everything is bare minimum.
This morning I got up at 3am STARVING so I ran to the fridge ate a banana and then was knocked back to sleep until 6ish. Once again I couldn't get rid of the hunger...the last week or so I've been abnormaly hungry, weird....so made myself some ezekiel toast w/ almond butter and jelly and was off to starbucks for some coffee. I actually don't like Starbucks so much but I broke my coffee machine and haven't been around to getting another one. Boy did I need caffeine today. After Sunday's training was over I was DEAD! Yesterday I pretty much layed on my couch staring with no motivation to even think. I like tapering but the absorption of all the training makes me feel slow and weak.
Anyway, then once the sun was up it was time to ride and hour with 9X5mins as 1min efforts of 1st half of race pace this time, then 4min training zone. Once riding I felt great which was pleasing cuz I thought I'd be dragging.
So now I'm home still delaying the inevitable of getting ready for Vancouver, my mom does such a great job at packing haha :-) After an appt at noon I'll get my 30min run and 30min swim in before heading to work.
The weather for the race is supposed to be in the 45-60F range which has me at an excitement of about 2 on a scale of 1-10. Add to that my mixed feelings about the whole thing...it's odd but I'm more pumped about Lubbock, which is not an A race in the least, than I am about Worlds. What the hell? I dunno but I just can't bring myself the eagerness and fire that I've had for previous big races like Kona and the qualifier. I hope the next 72 hours of more r&r gets me in the zone. A little voice in the back of my head creeps in every now and then saying "maybe the last couple of training races are a sign that you're meant for long distance". But I'm reminded that this is as much coach's decision as it is mine and whether by the end of the yr we discover that hey, longer is better in my case, it's still smart to lay off super long (ie IM) for now. I guess patience is my biggest fault, in waiting to discover what potential I have especially in swimming, but also in getting speed in my legs. It's not speed "back" as I can't say I ever had it...before triathlon I didn't run more than 2-3miles and only because we had to for tennis maybe once a month.
Well, enough dwelling...day by day, we'll see what goes down come Saturday
Cheers.