Well, I'm home sick today. Second day in a row. I caught some kind of stomach bug. I will spare the details, but let's just say I probably won't have a problem losing those few lbs that I was after :) The good news is my airway does not seem to be compromised at this point. This is always my biggest concern when I get sick as my airway typically gets inflamed and racing, well it's like trying to do an Ironman with a bag over your head. So...hopefully this bug leaves and I'm good to go. This was my last week of heavy work before entering into taper which means I'm just getting a little extra rest which is never a bad thing for an Ironman competitor!! I have a long bike scheduled for Saturday and a long run scheduled for Sunday, but I will change these as needed based on how I'm recovering from the illness.

There are so many doubts that enter your mind as you prepare for the big race of the season. The nice thing about this being my second Ironman is that I've had all the doubts before. I know there is nothing I can do in the next 3 plus weeks to race better at Canada...except for rest. Honestly, I could go out and do what I did last year 3 weeks before Arizona...a 112 mile tough ride with lots of pacing work, followed by a 7 mile run at sub 8min pace. Actually, it was the 3k pool time the day before and the 20 mile run the day after all added together that killed me. I had to face the facts...hammering out large workouts like that so close to the big race will do nothing but elevate the risk of illness. So this year I have been smarter. I've still been getting in these key workouts, but not in a row, and not so close to my race. Did I get sick this time due to training? Probably not, but my immune system was definitely not as strong as normal as I was in my final big training block leading into taper.

So the morale to this story is I have learned from my mistakes last year. I will not go out and hammer a 110 mile ride on Saturday and then back it up with a 20 mile run at a pace faster than what I intend to run at Penticton just to prove that I can do these things. I know I can. I already have...many times over the past 6 months. So as I retire the computer to take another nap, I'm content with where I am and confident that I will still reach my goals at the end of this month in Canada. Thanks for reading,

-T