"A Little Reflection"

Looking back on the past week I would say it was successful from a training perspective. Here's a summary of the past seven days.

Monday...70km bike, weights
Tuesday....50 minute swim and a 1,2,3,2,1 pyramid at the track
Wednesday...35 km run
Thursday...43 km bike, 5km run, weights
Friday...30 min swim
Saturday....180 km bike, 10 km run
Sunday....50 minute swim, 7.5 km run

The long workouts on wednesday and saturday really boosted my confidence. Despite Old Johns belief in me there are still many times when I doubt myself. This week really helped me to put some of that to bed.

Todays workout helped as well. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a bike ride in Elgin County and I felt surprisingly strong. I managed just over 70 kms at an average speed of 31.7 kms/hr on tired legs, and I'm very satisfied with that. Peter also put me through the regular wieght routine torture, and quite frankly I'll be glad when he stops coming to my house! I don't know why but I just can't get into that shit!

I think from here on in the battle will be won or lost in my head. I have to tough out 3 more weeks of hard work and then be very smart for the last 3 weeks. Smart in that I need to taper very gradually and exactly according to plan. Too little work and I will lose fitness, and too much and I will go into the race tired. For this aspect I will try to listen to the experts. I haven't exactly got the taper planned yet but I will try to do so this week on an airplane or in an airport. I leave tomorrow morning.

The funny thing is that as I gain confidence in my physical ability to do this thing, it seems that at the same time the importance of it diminishes. Part of me just wants to get it over with, as if it's some kind of task I have to complete as opposed to some search for the holy grail. And I suppose in a way that that's ok. I am a task oriented kind of guy and hate to see things left incomplete.

There is still another element to the whole adventure that is more of a "holy grail" kind of thing, and that's the 3 weeks that Claudette and I will spend together without the usual distractions of life. I think both of us need an escape and a chance to reflect on life and what we want to focus on for the next several years. I am really looking forward to our retreat! Since the whole cancer bullshit thing, and then the training, she has not had the attention she deserves from me.

I wish to dedicate day 306 to lance Armstrong who took the high road when he realized he probably can't win...it must be tough to get old!

“A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives - of approving of some and disapproving of others"---Charles Darwin

love
peter