Nice and easy today. I'm working the taper pretty hard this week. Coming off last week's effort, I feel super strong and very well rested. This is truly an amazing feeling. I can't imagine if I had been this rested all season what would have happened...oh well, live and learn.
Probably the biggest thing I've learned about myself in these last couple of weeks is that I really do like the long distance/long day stuff. I had been very intimidated by the sheer number of hours laid out by my coach, but having done them I have a new found love. If you slow down a bit, you can really up the volume in a HUGE way. Most importantly though, I really didn't need to slow down all that much. Even on my six hour ride this past saturday I averaged about 19mph. I mean, I was going really easy and to have that number out there really amazes me. This whole Ironman thing has something to it!
During the middle of this season, as I was getting about 4 hours of sleep per night, I thought that I was doing the wrong thing in trying to tackle the half iron distance. My plan at the beginning of the year was to kill 70.3's this year and take if from there. Well, with a couple of sub-par performances (5:06 at Rev3 and 4:53 at Timberman) I've got one shot to get some redemption at the end of this year with the local Mighty Montauk Half in the beginning of October. We'll see what happens.
So it's taper this week, race an olympic on Sunday, train hard and long for another week, taper the next, and race my ass off for the last time this year. Then it'll be take a break, gain a couple lbs. (haha, only a couple!), and get ready for some REAL training this year. I've gotten just a glimpse of what it takes to get to where I want to go, and I want it REALLY BAD! More than ever at this point! Like I said, I'm all in now. I'm going for broke and I don't want to have ANY regrets.
Oh, and before I forget, I got a new toy today!!! For a while now, I've wanted to get my hands on a singlespeed 29er mountain bike. I got a cheapie from Dick's last year (yeah, I know, I bought a bike from Dick's...BLASPHEMY!!!), but to be honest it's not really what I was looking for. So recently, I got the opportunity to get exactly what I wanted from the local shop here in town. They hooked me up nice with a Gary Fisher frame and some great Bontrager and Shimano components (see pic above). I can't even begin to deal with how simple this bike is. It's like a big kids BMX bike. I took it for a spin today and it rides like a dream. Climbs well, and cruises nice. The only drawback is that it accelerates like a Mack Truck, but I absolutely love it! There are many hours ahead for me and this bike, and I'm sure the winter will be a lot more fun with this beast!
Now the only question is what name to give her. I name all my bikes, and since I treat them with care and respect, they get women's names. My Trek TTX tri bike is named Susan, but this bike needs a more "butchy" name. Something like Brunhilda. Let me know what you think!
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