Final Push

Next Sunday I will be competing in the Patriots Triathlon held in Williamsburg Virginia. I'm excited for the race for a few reasons. A couple of my Darden friends are going to do the sprint version of the race while I do the oympic! This will be the first race that Coach E and I have done a full training cycle for and my blood sugars have been super solid for all but one day of the past month.

As I had posted earlier in the week, my emotions were running out of control which caused my blood sugars to fly all over the place. I'm still not 100% sure what happened; whether it was a combination of lack of sleep, insulin going bad and a racing mind or if it was all the food I had with lower boluses from the super intense workout weekend, but my blood sugars were sky high Monday. I think my efforts to let go of having to control every situation will go far in helping to limit situations like that in the future. Since Monday my blood sugars have returned to normal levels and have been steady as a rock during workouts - 6 hours thus far this week, with 2 hours on tap for today (a lift with core strength and a 40 minute run); then THE BIG WEEKEND.

This weekend Coach Orton has me doing a 35 minute continuous swim with a 15 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down on Saturday. I may try and find a lake somewhere around C'Ville to do it in open water, as a continuous swim in the UVA pool sounds about as enticing as cleaning my disaster of an apartment. There are two outdoor lap pools in Charlottesville so I may test my luck at one of them tomorrow morning to get the swim in. Sunday is the big day however, a 40 mile bike at my race cadence followed by a 1 hour run - essentially 75% of a half ironman.

Coach has had me cycling at a cadence of 80 to 85 for most of the past month. The idea behind this was cycling at a higher cadence was destabilizing my back muscles causing alot of spasms I was experiencing on longer rides. The lower cadence combined with the new fit has done wonders for my back and hip, I'm feeling great and stronger than ever on the bike.

I have also been running in the Nike Frees (more on these next week). My stride has become more efficient and some of the normal running stresses I've encountered have been just about eliminated. I feel like I'm running much more naturally than I have been and am enjoying running again!

All this leads me to great excitement for what can occur in Williamsburg next weekend. My nutrition has been dialed in, my training has been outstanding and my Coach is totally kicking my butt. I'll write more about my goals for the race next week, but I am putting the most effort into giving up control and just going with the flow of the moment. I was at my best in college football when I let the play come to me, when I didn't force things and when I adapted to the situations, letting the theory of play dictate my actions. On Sunday's big training day my goal will be to ride within myself, not force a higher heart rate, not feel like I need to hammer through the ground, enjoy the beautiful scenery and ride every second with a smile. Then on the run I want to run with the joy Emil Zatopek did in the 1952 Olympics - embrace the challenge, love the pain, but enjoy every second.