Freaking out just a little. Race day is a week away. At this time next week I'll be tucked away in bed, preparing for a 4:00am wake up call. I'll be rested, prepped, and carbo-loaded, and ready to dominate Racine 70.3. At least that's what I plan to tell myself for the next week.
The forecast is out, and so far high of 77 and partly cloudy! That's a tad warm for the run, but it could be A LOT worse for mid-July. Of course, I think a temp of about 99 degrees would go a long way to make the lake temps more manageable for the swim, but...you can't win 'em all, and the water is going to be an ice bath no matter what the air temp is.
Today I did my last long run and swim. Again, a time crunch and afternoon plans had me a bit pressed for time. I cut a mile out of my run and did 13 instead of the 14 my training plan called for. I was actually ok with that because of a few twinges, which I'll get to in a minute. I chatted a few minutes with an older man that I see regularly on my morning runs (he ran a 5K last weekend and knew my race was coming up, so we exchanged updates). After a quick change, I was in the pool for a 3000m swim. It felt pretty good. Around 2000m I put my head down trying to work a kink out of my shoulder and felt myself go a little faster and easier through the water. I continued to focus on my head position and boy did I notice a difference. I then put my head where I had been holding it and instantly felt more "drag" in the water. Amazing that I didn't notice that earlier!
Tomorrow I have my last long bike/run workout. Right now I am sitting on my bed with my new bike helmet on. Pretty excited to put it to the test tomorrow. I've got a 50 mile ride and 4 mile run planned.
Status report: I have a few nagging "injuries." More like twinges. Probably from overuse. My hip continues to hurt. I can't believe it's been so many months since I fell. I know it took a huge blow and I have given it zero rest, but still! My right calf has been cramping pretty badly after about 3 miles. Not good. To take care of my body I've been using lots of ice on my hip, ibuprofen, lots of fluids, and this week the foam roller has been my calf's best friend. This morning I wore compression socks and had no problems from my calf. It was very tight after, but did not cramp while I was running. Plan to continue the foam roller and compression socks this week.
Funny story: went for a swim/run this week. I normally shower at home, but decided to shower at the Y before I left. This change totally messed up my packing. I only brought one pair of underwear, so after the pool my dilemma became whether to wear underwear for my run or on my way home, or wear the same sweaty pair after my shower. Gross. I opted to run commando and, of course, had tight running shorts with me, not the nice ones with the built in underwear. I had planned some speedwork and hills on the treadmill, and wouldn't you know the only other treadmill in use happened to be the one directly behind me. Umm....felt like that guy got a nice show during his workout. I have spare socks, shirts, etc all in my bag. Clearly, I need to add another article to that stash of extras.
No comments:
Post a Comment