Six Days

    Less than six days. It felt as if I would never really get to this point. Training day after day, week after week, month after, well, you get the idea. I have been training for this specific event for nearly a year. Building a solid base from the ground up, quite literally. Now, the countdown is really on. I am trying to remain focused and not let Brain go scampering all over the countryside in an over-exuberant spaz attack, but it is a monumental task. I don't get to workout to exhaustion, which would help calm Brain and Body. With the race just days away I am in full blown taper mode, winding down my training to a mere 20% of what Body is used to. This leaves far too much excess energy, it feels as if it is oozing out of every pore and orifice, like honey from a broken pot. My saving grace is that currently my life is so busy, exciting, and distracting that it leaves very few hours to sit and wallow in an attack of nerves and anxiety. Just a few more days to stay healthy, just a few more days to be neurotically diligent with what goes into my maw, and what I do with Body. Just a few more days.
    Of course I have altered my workouts. Short but intense workouts, instead of long and intense. I am spending less time in the water and in the saddle, but staying dedicated to strength training, core workouts, and stretching. I am cutting back on carbs, since I am not needing as much fuel, but revving up my protein intake to make sure Body is as rested and healed as is humanly possible. Oddly, I have dropped almost 5 pounds in the last few weeks, so I will be racing at almost 20 pounds lighter than I was last summer. This week though, this week, Tuesday will likely be my last workout, one last swim in The Cove, then it is rest Body, but keep training Brain. I know that finishing in good condition requires every bit as much Brain strength and endurance as it does having Body prepped and ready. Endurance events often come down to mind over matter. I know this, and have been training for this inevitability every bit as hard as I have been training muscles, lungs, and heart. Six days. I am doing everything I possibly can to ensure a good outcome this coming Saturday. Eat, train, sleep, meditate, pretend to relax. Six days. Holyfuck. Six days. But I am ready.