Odds and Ends

Today was another relaxed taper day. My schedule called for a final 3-mile run with the JackRabbit group followed by a race briefing. Since this wasn't until 6:30, I had the whole day free to tie up loose ends, obsess about the race and plan the remainder of my racing season. I briefly thought of sneaking in a short ride, but listened to the coach for once (after all, isn't that what I paid for?) and skipped it. Instead, I slept a little later and stayed off my feet for the entire day.

I'm starting to compile real and mental lists of things to buy, things to remember and things to do before race day. I'm hitting the expo and mandatory pre-race meeting tomorrow afternoon to hopefully beat some of the rush and allow Saturday to be more relaxed. My new helmet arrived today, which I couldn't be more thrilled about. It's the new Specialized S-Works, allegedly the lightest helmet in the world. It was on backorder, but then surprisingly shipped and made it before the race. It will be so nice on what is looking like it will be a very hot day in NYC. Too bad I didn't have the time or motivation to get the cleats on my new Sidi T2 shoes. Those will have to wait for another race.

Speaking of another race, I've been very perplexed over what is next for me now that I know I'm not going to drown in the swim and am really enjoying this sport. I've been looking into a number of races in August and September, some local, some far away, some more serious and others just for practice. I'm looking at three Olympics and one sprint, all spread out nicely over the next two months. I have to decide quickly about the first, the Niantic Bay Triathlon in Connecticut, since it's just two weeks away.

My run tonight was short and sweet. Our coaches monitored us and made us run a nice, slow pace and we did most of it on the bridle path, which is a lot nicer than running on asphalt. I chatted with my training partners about the race, our future plans, our nerves, our worries. It was a fun run and one last chance to get together with the group before we all go our separate ways. There are many different types of people in the group: those who want to do just one triathlon for the experience, those who might do one or two a year, and those who see it as a lifestyle. We're all very different and our reasons for doing this are very individual, but for this 10-week period, we all had the same goal. When I signed up, I thought I would fall into one of the first two groups, but as it turns out, I'm in that third group. I can't imagine not swimming, biking and running just because the race is over so eventually I'll just shift from training mode to lifestyle mode.

In closing, the photos from Sunday's 10K were posted so I thought I'd share a nifty finish line shot. I think that look on my face was me thinking, "you're going to run another 4 miles now? Are you nuts?" My next 10K finisher photo will be snapped on Sunday assuming all goes well. Hopefully I'll be finishing with a smile.

Running
Distance - 3 miles
Time - 29:11