2 more working weekends until the big race..

2 weeks in a row without a midweek entry. Last week was family time and this week was sick (oh and there was that dodger game too). Sorry but the training is going well. My last few weeks have been strange. I am putting in the time and effort and I am still a little ambivalent towards the training. It is long, slow, and hard. I was wondering too if somewhere in my mind I was expecting it to be easy. I have this way of gaining success and continuing to look up. Compare myself to people who are fitter and more experienced than me and checking my progress to how they perform. It is not fair to me to do that. I cannot help it I want to be the best I can be. Here is how my week went:

Monday-Rest
Tuesday-Easy run. 3 miles done before softball, then softball. Easy, no watch, just run.
Wednesday-I wanted to do something new. So the plan was a brick brick. I wanted to do 8 mile bike, 2 mile run X 2. I wanted to go as fast as I can on each with fast transitions. Work those quads very fast. My bike on the first leg was 32:48, T1 4:35, and run 17:35.....total 54:59. What was unfortunate was I used my stop watch instead of the Garmin. I had 3 or so lights to wait at and having the automatic timer stop would have showed how truly fast I was. The second trip through the workout didn't happen. As the night went on I felt my head getting gooped up, my throat getting sore, and I thought I was starting to run a fever. Umm I think I will stop here.
Thursday- I had 2500 meter swim planned. SICK.
Friday-Rest.
Saturday-Long bike. Feeling about 95% recovered i wondered if working long would be a bad idea. I actually felt better as the ride went on. Good idea. I went 60.24 miles in 4:10:49. I got off the bike 3 times to stretch my back. Good ole pressups. I still averaged 14.4 mph. Not that fast but I will take it. This is my longest ride to date. I wanted to go very long and I didn't want to ride those damn hills again. I rode somewhere different. My legs felt strong and fresh. No fatigue, no pain. My back never hurt like last week but did get stiff and tired. I guess the core strengthening is helping. I should do that more. Overall, I am very happy with my ride. Funny note: I burned approximately 4167 calories.
Sunday (today)-Long run. SCRATCH THAT. Long swim. SInce I skipped my swim on Thursday and as I analyzed the rest of my training I thought may be I need a long swim more than I need a long run. Including this race it will be 6th half marathon and the water temperature is definitely cold enough for a wet suit. How about if I go long in an open swim? I will say about 2300-2500 yards or so (it isn't exactly marked) in 56:25. My 2000 meter split was 45 min or so. No fatigue no soreness (except for wet suit burn on my neck). I felt great. I got into a rhythm and felt strong. I definitely felt like I could do a lot more after that swim. After yesterdays ride could I so more after that? hmmm it would have been tough. Very happy with my swim right now.

I feel ready. Can I do it all in 1 day? That is the ultimate question. I suppose that is triathlon at its core. All 3 back-to-back-back. I have swam longer than race distance, I have biked longer than race distance, and I have ran this run distance many many times. I have had some long bricks and i still have some longer ones too. My mind is active. Up until Wednesday night, I haven't been sleeping very well. I think about the race all the time. It is going to be a huge thing for me. I am curious to see what I feel during and after this race. QUOTE:

“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.”
Antoine de Saint-French Pilot, Writer, and Author

I think this is what I am feeling lately....the stranger within me growing.....