A Fortnight To Go

Ah, time is winding down, and the day for the big race is coming soon. We're T minus 2 weeks and counting before the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, AL. Yesterday, I went a little outside of my training regime and went a little bit longer than I was supposed to. My program had me scheduled for 16 miles, but it had been so long since I had gone 20 miles that I felt that I needed to get it in just to see how it felt. I decided against doing a big loop around town and either carrying with me or finding drinks and gels along the way. Instead, I chose a rolling five mile loop from my house. This enabled me to come to house, use the restroom, fuel up, and change a shirt from time to time instead. It worked beautifully. It felt so good to put on a dry shirt every five miles. It felt so good in fact, I've talked Lauren into meeting me every five miles or so of the race to give me a new shirt. Sounds silly, but mentally it does wonders for you. It's kind of like a transition of sorts.

Well, the 20 mile run went really well. I actually completed 20.4 after mapping it out in a time of 2:33 which is right on pace. Now whether or not I'll be able to keep the same pace up for the last 6 miles remains to be seen as I was struggling the last few miles. It's going to be a fight, but we'll see how it goes.

So now it's two weeks of easy tapering and healthy eating. My eating plan so far has gone well. I've cut down on carbs at night and am eating a little more protein to help my muscles recover.

Off subject a bit, but if you haven't already seen it, "Dan In Real Life" with Steve Carrel is AWESOME. Take your wife, girlfriend, whoever to go see this movie. Hilarious, but also feel good and cry a little too. I didn't cry of course as triathletes don't cry, but my wife did. So go see it and thank me later.

I'm out!