It Don't Come Easy-Four Weeks 'Til Race Day!

Back when the Beatles divorced, it was a shock wave felt 'round the world. Each member of the fab four then went on to have somewhat varying degrees of success alone. One would argue that John didn't have as much time as the others because his life was tragically shortened. Still, it's hard to deny that Sir Paul isn't the one that rose the highest after the great divide, if you can forgive some of that terrible bubble gum pop out of Wings.

Ringo, bless his nose, never rose very high above the post Beatles era, but he did have some good rockin' songs. It Don't Come Easy was one of the best, if not the most grammatical.

Last week was not easy. After a hard brick on Sunday (54 mile bike and 3 mile run) I had a long swim on Monday (2500 yards, pretty much straight through), spin class on Tuesday, a 7.6 mile run on Wednesday morning, and then back to back bricks on Thursday (I took the day off work for this fun)--90 minute bike followed by 30 minute run, followed by SECOND 90 minute bike followed by SECOND 30 minute run. By THursday night I was really tired, and we were leaving to go skiing the next day. Friday, a travel day, found me hobbling around with a terrible, terrible back ache that worried me immensely, but fortunately, Advil and a night's rest made it totally disappear. It would just be so bad to have an injury at this point.

Friday morning my heart rate was elevated from its usual 62 beats per minute to a 70 beat per minute, a classic sign of getting close to overtraining. I was glad to have some time off to recover.

We skiied hard the next 3 days, which certainly helped my cardio and strength, but I did no biking or running. After travel on Tuesday, I'm back in the saddle, or at least in the pool tonight, as my heart rate is back down to its normal state and I'm rested and ready for the next push.

I am starting to envision the race lately, trying to make it all come together in my head, which is hard since there is no way I can obviouly picture 8 hours in my head! But I am thinking about the swim start, how I pace myself in the water and keep myself from freaking out, how often I will lift my head to sight (about every six left arm strokes), where I will position myself (in the back to the right), how I will exit the water and what things I will take off wear, and how I will get onto the bike and out on the course. About this point, I tend to fall asleep while thinking about it, so I've not contemplated the run yet!

There's still a lot left for me to do to get organized, including buying a new bento box for the bike (the one I have is too floppy), getting a new pair of goggles (same brand, but mine are almost 18 months old and pretty scratched up), getting my bike cleaned up and tuned, getting a hair cut (really! Who needs hair in your eyes for 56 miles?), and more. I've made our hotel reservations, intending to stay over Sunday night after the race (as I told Patient Spouse, after 8 hours on my feet, I am NOT getting into a car for another 5!). In addition, of course, I have to keep training and working for a living. Oh, yeah, that.

If it came easy, everyone would do it.