The Big Taper...

It's been 42 weeks since I began this journey on November 3rd. I had penciled in the Chicago Triathlon to be my peak race for the year. That race is now just 1 week away.
The Numbers: 468,250 swim yards, 4,608 bike miles, 1,567 run miles, 95 trips to the weight room, over 150 sessions of core work.
These numbers don't tell the story however. I have an e-mail that has sat in my inbox since August 25, 2008. The e-mail was one I sent to myself the day after the Chicago Triathlon a year ago. I had just decided that I wanted to stop coaching so I could train year round. In the e-mail I sent myself 9 specific training goals for this year. I accomplished every one of them except for one which was to run 33:30 in the 10k on the track in April. I had planned to run one in April but that is when I was injured with the cyst on my achilles tendon. The other 8 I have been able to check off. More important than the numbers is the mental toughness I have gained from the numbers. I am more confident going into Chicago than I have ever been going into a race. This week I had my best workout ever on the track. Tuesday I ran a 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, and 400. I averaged 4:57 pace/mile through the workout getting faster as I came back down the ladder. My last 400 was the fastest I ran in a workout since I can't remember when. Today I did a 31 mile ride easy with 10x 1 minute hard periods followed by a minute easy. I averaged over 27 mph on the hard periods. My overall ride was at 22.6 mph which is the fastest training ride I've ever had. When I got off the bike I ran a fast mile in 5:19. All of this leaves me believing that I can go under 2 hours next Sunday while placing in the top 10 of the Elite Amateur race. This is the one I hoped to have a peak performance at. The hard work is finished...my mind is ready to race...it's going be great! Thanks for following. DREAM BIG!