serenity now

i’ve really surprised myself these last 10 days or so. this taper thing isn’t so bad after all. i’m just so used to a high volume of training even when i’m not training for an event that i thought for sure this little slow down would make me an irritable mess, but not so much. basically, i followed the triathlete bible that said, cut the volume down but keep some intensity and that’s what i’ve done and it’s been nice. i still can’t wait to not train for anything for a while and just do my own thing…whatever that is, although i’m sure that won’t last very long before i have the next race picked out (Boston Marathon 2011??).  i enjoy waking up on any given morning without a workout plan and just going with whatever it is that i feel like doing. if i want to go run 15 miles just because then i can or if i want to ride 100 miles on my bike for absolutely no reason except for just wanting to, then i can without having to think about any schedule. i like playing by my own rules and schedules bug me. 

remember this wetsuit i bought in may? well, i never got to use it because it warmed up rather quickly here in florida. i finally pulled it out of the box this week, put it in my new zoot transition bag (yeah, it’s fancy) and took it to my friend Carrol’s pool to test out. niiiice! but it’s such a biotch to put on, damn! the last time i had a wetsuit on was in 1997, so i have no recollection of it helping my swim…but then again, i was nowhere prepared to swim with or without a wetsuit so if it helped me then, i didn’t know it. i hate to think what it would have been like without a wetsuit. yikes! anyway, you were right Jeff at dangle the carrot, it is like cheating! i plan on giving it a whirl on friday at lake minneola where the race is.
people keep asking if i’m ready. hell-a-yeah, i’m ready! i could do it today or tomorrow or last week if need be. the weather outlook is pretty good. still too soon in my opinion to believe it. absolutely no rain in sight (this i believe), the low is 63 and the high is 84. a wise squirrel whisperer once told me that you take what the day gives you and i burned that into my memory banks and i remember it often.  so if there is wind, deal with it, if there is heat, deal with it. that’s why i trained in these conditions so that if race day was windy and hot, then i’m prepared. bottom line is that i have done everything in my training that i had to and never missed a beat, so with that, i’m prepared to do my best and when it’s all over, i will be proud whether my time is 12 hours or 17 hours.
i have a nice little treat planned for my next blog post. since i’m only working monday and tuesday next week, i should have plenty of time to twiddle my thumbs blog while i’m in super taper mode, so stay tuned my lovely readers.
i know i’ve missed out on lots of blog updates like who is racing and when but at least i can stay somewhat up to date with facebook and twitter. so a big shout out to Shirley Perly at humble triathlete who is almost done with her goal of running a marathon in every state. she is doing number 49 this weekend. awesome goal Shirley! the other shout out goes to Matty O at staying strong and positive! and his wife Heather at just another day in the life of team oravec who are running in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Fran tomorrow. have fun! can’t believe it has been a year since i was there running it.
have a great weekend everyone…much love and peace out!