Training Day Eve

Tomorrow starts the training season for 2008. Today feels a bit like Christmas Eve (didn't I just disparage this holiday on my last blog?). The training wheels with old tires are on my tri bike which is freshly mounted on the Computrainer. The cupboards have been emptied of "garbage food" and filled with pretzels, oatmeal, peanut butter, and honey. Last night, Kevy and I finished off the last our Thanksgiving feast: a magnificently well-marbled (read: cholesterol-clogged, melt-in-your-mouth beef) prime rib roast and roasted garlic mashed potatoes (mashed with heavy cream and butter--yum!). The warm caramel brownie sundaes had been polished off on Friday night. I've dusted off my snowshoes, heart rate monitor, and winter running clothes. I've put my 2008 season goals into writing, talked them over with Mary, and we've come up with a plan.
I don't expect that my 30 min run at E pace and 60 min bike tomorrow is going to magically transform me (like that scene from Cinderella) into Princess Sub-9 at Kona, my tri shorts--too tight now will be hugging 2% body fat glutes after the glitter settles. Nope, I'm just hoping tomorrow's work-outs won't hurt too badly. I doubt they will---my V dot testing is done (Running balls out for 5K after an off-season of casual jogging--now THAT hurt!) and my E pace is embarrasingly slow. I've done a few E pace runs and can't imagine how anyone would get injured running that slow. While I may not feel physiologically challenged during those runs, they are a mental exercise in concentrating on:
1. Cadence: To achieve 90 rpm, I try to have 3 foot falls per second--kind of a fast waltz--and remember this rhythm. I've thought about buying a small electronic metronome, but I need another tri gizmo like I need a hole in my head and wallet.
2. Midfoot strike that's under my hips: In order for the the balls of my feet to land under my hips, I start pulling my leg back before my foot hits the ground. Easy to think about but hard to ingrain into muscle memory and habit after years of running with a loping, heel-striking gait.
3. Pace: When it's time to run slow, I wanna run faster. When the pace and effort pick up (such as during the run test), the whining starts and I wanna slow down. It's a battle of wits (or nitwits!): Logic vs. Habit. Suck it up and run slow/fast when I'm supposed to because this Vdot thing makes sense OR keep running the same kinda-fast-for-me pace that's sure to eventually lead to injury and never lead to a faster run.
Tomorrow starts my 8th season in triathlon, 3rd in long course. I've been doing triathlon long enough to be seasoned--not exactly a veteran, occasionally a curmudgeon, but still a student. Every year a new way to measure and monitor how to run, ride a bicycle, and swim faster with less energy is invented. While the gizmos, training plans, and charts are interesting, it's still just me who is doing the running, riding, and swimming. I take great comfort in that fact because it's the one thing I can control: where my hand enters the water with each stroke, how fast my feet turn over running uphill, what my shoulders are doing while I'm in aero, what and how I think about all of it. So I guess it's not the dress or glass slippers or carriage that used to be a pumpkin that makes one a princess--it's how she carries herself at the ball. Well, looks like fairy godmother and I have got our work cut out for us!