Four Days and Counting...

Three days and some hours is more like it. I'm definitely at the nervous point, second-guessing my training, wondering if I'm going to be able to finish. Let me correct that: Wondering if I'm going to be able to finish by making all the time cut-offs. That's my main worry. I know I can do the distances. I've done them and more already this year. My main worry is that because I'm such a slow swimmer and a moderate cyclist, I may not make the cut-off for finishing the bike leg. If I can just make it onto the run course I'll be fine. My fears won't be relieved any until check-in and packet pick-up on Friday. That's when I'll find out which swim wave I'm in. If it's one of the early waves, I'm good. If it's one of the last waves, I'm going to be in some trouble. I'll have to hammer on the bike for 56 miles to make up for the swim split, which will in turn leave me exhausted for the run. But I'll need to wait till Friday afternoon to find out.

Other than that, preparations are proceeding. I picked up a new tire last night. Now I just need to find the time to install it. I'm deciding what food to bring with me on the bike and what to have for breakfast race morning. It will be early and we'll be in a hotel so my choices will be limited. I'll need to wait a couple more days for the most accurate weather forecast, but I'll bring enough different clothing to hopefully deal with any August weather conditions. (No snow, please.)

Training has tapered for race day. No more brick workouts. Just some swimming and running. Not enough cycling. I wish it were easier to get out and ride. Saturday I joined Ladd, Chuck, Charles, and Frank for 17 miles on the Towpath. We had a nice comfortable run with about 3 miles of trails and 20 minutes of rain thrown in. Ladd and I really picked up the pace for the final two miles. I've heard through the grapevine that that's the way to train for a marathon: really pushing it on the final miles of the long runs.

I'll be heading to the track for some light speed work tonight. Nothing too hard or too long. This will be one of my final workouts before Saturday, followed by a swim tomorrow and a last run Thursday.

It's approaching even quicker because I've been absolutely slammed at work lately and the days are just flying by. I haven't even had the chance to think about vacation in two weeks yet!