one day left

The weather report shows that every day will be sunny the next 7 days except Sunday, June 5.  On this day, there will be a lightning storm.  This would be a funny joke, but it's actually true.  Actually, I'm not really worried about it just because I know the weather forecasts are hardly ever right; and worrying will not change anything anyway.  Praying on the other hand, may.  I've been praying for a
sunny/overcast, windless day in the 60's.  We'll see.

Yesterday, the internet service kept going off, and I needed to keep on resetting the cable box (or whatever it's called) and was starting to fret.  I had tried to write my entry into this blog and the circumstances were just ripe for another meltdown like I had the other day.  So I decided to chill on the blogging.

I have no idea if I am in shape enough.  I've probably gained 5 lbs in the past week with all the 'carbo loading' I've been doing, and hardly any exercise.  This taper week has not been as enjoyable as I had fantasized - being fed grapes and complex carbohydrates as I watch tv and  engage in some creative work of some sort, that I've long put aside.  Instead, I was just kind of sitting around, wondering 'what do I do now?'  That's actually not true, but it would have been true if I hadn't had to stay late at work to tie up loose ends before my vacation next week; and if I hadn't had to take my dog Chutney to the vet Thursday morning due to a sudden urinary tract infection.  So, my week has been full even without exercising.  I missed all my classes too - my BRICK workout on Thursday evening, the speed workout on Wednesday evening, and the Tuesday morning group ride.

I posted this on my FB account yesterday, I find it so cute and inspirational:
little bicyclist

There are other little details that are keeping my mind occupied right now.  For instance, we plan on getting to the hotel around 11.  Meanwhile, my fellow triathlon comrade informed me that check in for the hotel is not until 3.  Now, the whole event begins at noon with packet pick up; swim clinic at 1 or 2, and then newcomer orientation at 3.  I don't have any locks for the bike....so I'm not sure what to do at this point.  I am not too worried, the hotel does this event every year, they must have faced this issue and must have addressed it already...

One of the things that I've been thinking about this past week is that the purpose of this blog is not this triathlon tomorrow, it's the Poconos Half Ironman in October.  I was joking with Theresa that after this countdown is over, I will start another countdown 16 weeks to the Poconos HIM...  I am already behind in the 18 week HIM training plan!

Training for triathlons is like gardening.  You work on a little plant for it to grow from a seedling into a flowering plant.  After the plant flowers, you cut it back - prune it, so that it can grow a little bigger the following season.  You can't hurry it along by giving it more water.  You have to prune it if you want it to remain healthy and strong.  If it were up to me, training and triathlons would be more like genetically modified, chemically supported, gardening; how do you add more, do more, to have the biggest flowers, all the time.  This, along with Harry Potter's time turner necklace, would really be ideal.