taper? what taper?

countdown to quakerman.. 3 days, so i guess it would be a good time to start tapering. in my extensive history of triathlons, i can honestly say i have not dreaded a race as much as this one. i need to psych myself into thinking that i have it in me to handle this event well and that it will be fun. the swim should not be too bad, the bike will probably feel like i am driving stick in 5th gear up a hill for 3+ hours, and the run, i have no idea. coach jim at swim today told me to swim with the race mentality so you get used to it.. then when we were on 4x200s descending all of the sudden i got really hot and agitated and out of breath just like on race day. maybe all of that pre-race nervousness will be done with by saturday.

labour day weekend was fantastic-- started with a massage on thursday night with maija and G, then a swim (w/ claudia, sb and bob) and track workout on friday morning. i was trying to channel gatorade bob during the swim and noticed that i am a lot more relaxed swimming w/ the aquaholics than at columbia. my favourite part of the track workout was the 4x 200 all out followed by 200 recovery. since i had gotten kicked out of the track b/c of football practice, i did a revised version running through the neighbourhoods and felt like i was playing "red light green light." then saturday i got up early to do a long run, which was highly enjoyable because i did 1:02 one way and made it back in 57:30 (i usually make as few turns as possible b/c i tend to get lost very easily). sunday was a quick bike/run and then a long swim in the long pool. my bike was annoying b/c i had tried to take the training tire off but i guess i had pinched the inner tube and then put the back wheel on so that it was rubbing the brake...so my bike was acting like a choo choo train and i am so surprised that my tire didn't deflate until after my ride. then we had the best bbq of the summer at sb and G's party pad!
maija was nice enough to coach me through an interval run and bike on labour day. running with her is like the tortoise and the hare and i was relieved that we only did 3x5:00 fast. she says i need to get used to the pain in my lungs. transition time from the run to bike = about 1 hour b/c we had to go to matt's to ask him to help me change my tire (and sneak a few cookies). i tried to repeat the intensity of monday's run on tuesday but just couldn't get myself fast enough on my own volition.. at one point (during the 4th interval or so) my lungs started to hurt and i was like YES!! i was thinking about what should dangle in front of me to motivate my going faster. then columbia swim yesterday and today, and an attempt to tackle the trainer again. my stroke feels all funny on the swim b/c it is slow and i feel so self conscious about rotation, keeping my head down, swimming through molasses, etc. but it's still fun.

our office is moving to wall street in the next few weeks. does anyone know of a good pool/tri club in that area?

new plan: hijack the aquaholic's track workouts from wednesday, use sb's run time as a guideline and try to do my own track workout on thursdays.

i also realize that if i want to get some good nutrition in, i need to stay away from trying to cook (and by "cook" i mean do anything that requires using heat in the kitchen). i have a knack for giving myself a tummy ache (boiling veggies?!) about one out of every 3 times.