Five days away

I left work yesterday and headed directly to the pool. It's hard to believe that this is my last pool workout before IMLP. As I finished up a easy 1500 yard swim I thought to myself how far I've come this year in the water. A year ago I was the type of triathlete that would rarely swim and swim just to survive when race time came. This year it'll be slightly different. I'm sure I'll still take the occasional body shot or kick to the head, but I also plan on making it to the end of the swim with the gas tank still reading full. My time might not be too much faster, but hopefully the energy I'll expend on the swim will be dramatically less then those years in the past. As I left the pool I made sure to tell myself "I'll be back". Regardless of what happens this weekend, I still have the 1/2 Ironman World Championships to train for in November.

After I got home I flipped on the Tour de France for a bit, and then Jennifer and I went out to dinner with my friend Matt and his wife. Matt is one of the top tri guys in the Pittsburgh area and is currently training for IM Wisconsin. Over the past year I've done many of long rides and runs and swims for that matter with Matt and workouts with him are always top notch. Having known Matt for over a year now, I still hadn't met his wife. So the four of us got together and had a fantastic time over a nice hearty Italian dinner.

So today is another full work day and soon to be my last before we leave for IMLP. Tonight is sort of an off day as I head into town to the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) Sports Medicine Complex for some strength and body composition tests. UPMC is running a program to compare Ironman athlete fitness to fitness levels of those soldiers in the Navy special forces such as Navy Seals. I'm not really sure what all tests will be done tonight, but it should be really fun and educational for sure. The testing is a two part session where session two I'll have my VO2 max tested...I'm really looking forward to that one!

Hopefully I'll also begin to pack tonight and get my gear situated for the long haul. Again, only five days away! Enjoy your day everyone!

posted by Chad Holderbaum @ 6:05 AM Comments: 1