Between recovery and taper, I guess it wasn't as much time as I'd thought there would be. Besides, what can I possibly do in 2 1/2 weeks to make huge leaps of progress in swim efficiency, bike endurance, or run speed? The best I can hope for is to keep my head on straight, not get silly and overtrain, and show up at the start line without an injury.
Around this time last year as I was training for my first Ironman, I would get my panties in a bunch over missing/cutting short a long ride or run. While being consistent is very important, one long ride or one hour cut off the long run a month from the race isn't going turn a sub-9 hour IM into a 17 hour death march. Looking back, the real foundation was laid in the winter: every day on the trainer, bundling up for E pace runs in the wind-whipped cold, meters upon monotonous meters in the pool...Not just this winter, but every winter for the last 3 years.
I'm not disputing the importance of those spring/early summer long rides and runs. They are the culmination of all the work done in the winter. We couldn't--SHOULDN'T--be doing 6-8 hour rides and 13-20 mile runs without all that training in the winter months leading up to it. Those long workouts in the sunshine are the joy and priviledge that results from all those hours spent indoors going so slow that I wasn't sure if I actually produced any endorphins during training. I remember last June wanting another month of weekends to ride 6 hours on Sat and run 3 hours on Sunday. No wonder! It was the best part of training!
So with a few days left of real training for taper, the excitment of the race is sprinkled with a bit sadness about the end of all the training. Of course, there's nothing stopping me from continuing to ride for 6 hours or run longer than 3 miles. But the bittersweetness is about the end of a process--a wondrous process that changed me physically and mentally, but in such a gradual way that the change became a part of me. There's not a whole lot more exciting than race day, but not much truly beats the rewards of training.
As for redemption, I've decided to throw that sentiment out the window. I've not sinned---well, missing a few workouts in April isn't going to be made up during a race in July by going out to hard and blowing up mid-run. No, I won't look to Musselman for salvation or forgiveness or punishment for what I did or didn't do in training. While it seems to be the raison d'etre of training, it is not the first, last, only race ever in the history of mankind or of Kitima. The sun will rise the next day; and the training will continue. That is blessing enough.
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