Here I am, its around 5:30am up here in VT at the QT2 camp and I am already nursing my second cup of coffee. Unlike the usual mornings where I am sitting alone in my apartment or something I am currently joined by a super nice QT2 fellow named Ted. Ted and I are both early risers so its nice to have someone up and about in the early hours. Coach Eggers is an early riser as well so when we were in Placid last weekend that was also nice since she'd already be out on the porch chipping away at her computer when I got up. Eventually we'd make our way down to the local starbucks at 6am where we would help open up the store and buy 2 giant coffees.
I just posted this on twitter but I think I kind of came up with my motto for waking up early most every day, and it is:
"I wake up early almost every day purely to enjoy my cup or cups of coffee in the peace and serenity of the wee hours as well as to drink my coffee at my own leisure without the stress of being behind schedule"
On the agenda today is a timed 1 mile swim. This should be interesting as I have never really swam any type of distance in a timed fashion other than the beginning leg of a triathlon. I'll admit that I am a bit nervous as I don't want to really stink at it but my swim has definitely improved over the last year so all I can do is go out there and go as hard as I can for 1 mile and see where I am at. From there all I have to do is improve...that's the easy part right!
After the swim everyone will be heading back into town (the lake is about 5 miles out of town at a State Park) and getting ready to head out on their bikes for their "long ride". I love that term...the "long ride", triathletes will seldomly actually say the hours that will be ridden during their "long ride" and usually its not because they are embarrassed by the brief nature of it. If it was only a 2-3 hour ride it would be deemed a "recovery ride", for most people a 2-3 hour ride would be well...LONG...however most triathletes will simply say they have a long ride on tap and then hop on the bike for between 6-7 hours. I think triathletes in general learned a long time ago that instead of answering the millions of questions about their sanity, etc when they say their riding their bike for 6-7 hours straight they just say "Yeah, I've got a Long Ride today" and just leave it at that. This leaves the questioning person guessing as to what exactly they mean and usually further Q&A is avoided, thus allowing the triathlete to go on their way and get their ride in before either:
A. The rain front comes in,
B. Your kid's graduation ceremony wraps up or
C. Your wife leaves the restaurant where you were supposed to have your anniversary dinner...but I've got to say that most triathletes should be aware that missing an anniversary dinner or forgetting this could have great repercussions as such a mistake like this could hinder the purchase of a new tri bike or race wheelset for a good 2-3 years, I would advise that all athletes schedule a mandatory rest day on their anniversary and other super huge important days just to be on the safe side.
Alas, I make these comments without being married, without a girlfriend, without children, but I do follow the weather...but what I mean is I make this comments purely with the intention of trying to be humorous...I am not quite sure if I am, but hey at least I am trying.
Hmm..where was I. So yeah, a long bike ride is on tap for this afternoon...by long I am referring to about 6-7 hours on the bike with a 30 minute transition run after. The weather report looks a bit sketchy as the rain seems to be coming in around 10-11am..just about when we will all begin our rides, should be interesting. However, I am forever an optimist and I have the high hopes that the rain will not come and that we shall all complete our long rides on dry roads and with dry clothes :) None the less I just hope that everyone keeps two wheels firmly planted on the ground and no major spills occur...that's the worst!
For now I must go...I have to get my body awake and my things together. It's a big day, in fact its one of my last big training days before Lake Placid which is a month away, sounds silly but as we are 4 weeks out this means taper time is getting close. Plus in two weeks I will be racing a sprint triathlon so that weekend is already taken up thus leaving 3 weekends of training and 2 of those will be filled with mandatory rest....Oh boy, the big day is fast approaching.
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