For an English major, I think the post title is pretty weak.  My race is 6 weeks from today.  My taper begins 2 weeks out from the race.  Since coming home from the Christmas holidays the really intense sessions have begun – huge bricks, long distances, total nutrition.  So this week marks the end of week 1 of the last 5 intense weeks.  Clear as mud?

I have not done a very good job of taking pictures of the runs and swims, or the strength training sessions.  I’ll try to improve on that next week.  I can post a picture of me in the MAC store getting my new MacBook Pro…

If our parents would agree, I would ask the MacBook to marry me.

I can also show you the gorgeous rainbow we saw on the way up to the Mac store:

other people on Facebook have posted better pictures of this - it was beautiful.

But I’ll have to use words to tell you about the last two workouts.  Thursday was swim day and I had to go 3000 yards – that’s about 3/4 of the distance of the race itself.  I did it in the SportsCom pool and it took me about an hour and a half.  I don’t struggle too much with the swimming, but it becomes such a mind game because there IS NO REST.  Not a moment to cough, catch your breath, adjust any wardrobe malfunctions.  The good news is that at the race website, a participant is quoted in describing Lake Taupo as being so clear as to be able to see the bouy anchors on the bottom!  A far cry from the lakes I’ve been swimming in around here, and vastly different than last year’s half-Iron!

Then Friday was a 12 mile run.  I had a 12:00 appointment at the MAC, but it wasn’t a massage, just an annual health department inspection, so I needed less than 10 minutes there.  So in the interest of efficiency, I headed out from my house, ran the 5.5 to the MAC, circled the courthouse, got the inspection done, ate a GU gel (strawberry-banana:  better), and did the run home in reverse.  Even got home in time to shower before meeting a precious friend at Mellow Mushroom for the notorious beer sampler.  That weekly alcohol treat takes on tremendous importance, I promise!

Finally, today was strength training, which, because of all the other workouts, felt like a day off.  I’ve really been concentrating on my lats and shoulders for the swim; my legs are already so much stronger from the running and biking.  Nutrition all week has been great- my weight is right at 150, and I expect it to drop down another 5 by race day, which is just where I want it.

The MacBook purchase has come at a good time – gives me a little something distracting as I’ve started my obsessing over the race.  I visit the website 5 or 6 times a day to see if they’ve added something new.

This week’s schedule looks a lot like last week’s, and the Middle Tennessee weather is not cooperating….who’da thunk:  winter in January.

iPod is in rehab at the Mac store – miss it desperately!  Jesse has been so kind to lend me his shuffle, but there are only so many Marty Robbins songs I can listen to.  I guess the favorite on the run was Big Red the Ranger with the Big Iron on his Hip on the Streets of Laredo with Falina at Rose’s Cantina.  Not that they all sound the same…

Thanks for reading!