Dont forget who got me here....

As Remembrance Day(Memorial Day for US friends) is coming to a close, I spent some time reflecting about the world around me today and how privileged we are.  Many of our grand parents sacrificed their lives for our freedom.  Many of our friends are currently on the front lines doing the same thing, so that we can carry on and live our lives peacefully and chase our dreams.  I also took a little time today while I was not thinking about myself and my next workout or training frustration and thought about how lucky I am to have an awesome wife who supports me 100% through the ups and downs of the privileged dream I get to chase.  Thank you to all those who have allowed us to live in freedom today, and to my awesome wife and friends for putting up with this self absorbed world of IRONMAN!  The picture below is a Trish an I on our first anniversary.  She is a champ, as someone who had no aspirations of doing more than her daily 5k, this is a photo of her and I on our first anniversary after completing the Toronto 1/2 Marathon!  (still trying to convince her to do a marathon, don't think so)

I have been reading a few friends and others bloggers notes the past couple of days.  IM friends who are off to Clearwater and other late season races in the next short while.  I want to wish them all awesome races and hope that you enjoy the fruits of your long hard training.  Enjoy the road you will travel and remember to have fun!  As I read about everyone heading off to races, I am still not cluing in to the fact that my day will be here in less than a year.  Sounds  a little ridiculous to even be thinking about it, but, a lesson I learnt from all the others is that it will be hear in no time.  It interesting being in 'off season' but being concerned about getting miles in and workouts finished so that I am ready.  What I am doing now is seemingly bonus work, and I really should not be doing a whole lot of it.  So, today I decided as I am planning the training from now until the end of the year that I will include a couple of days that are 'dont forget to have an extra beer' training days!  Next summer is going to be to consuming, so what the hell, I have time and I am in decent shape now, relax!
On that note, I had an awesome run this afternoon.  Started the afternoon with a swim drill practice to blow off some post work stress.  Great practice time, pool was mostly empty and with no training partners it kept the pool time to focused technical training.  I put in about 1500-1600 m knowing that I was heading out for a run afterwards.  After the practice I had to scream home to get ready for my run.  I had an appointment for some ART to try and cure and recurring and nagging hamstring knot.  for the last month i cant seem to get the knot out of the very top of my hamstring.  So, I figured before it becomes something else I would get it addressed.  So, I put on my shoes and headed out to run to my appt.  I was late so it served as a great reason to have to pick up the pace today.  I am generally a 5:30/k runner, today I ran a 5:10 and felt great doing it,  my HR stayed at 162 which is great considering last night I did a tempo run at 5:23 with the same HR.  I did discover in analyzing the 2 runs one of the differences.  Last night I ran with an iPod.    NO MORE!  I find it a distraction and I lose focus.  It seems as the music changes so does my rhythm, so, problem solved, I will listen to music after my run! My ART session was a grueling pleasure and I believe it will provide results.  I now have a series of exercises to complete twice a day in order to get the knot loosened up and to strengthen the muscle I have not been using as a result.  I hope this all translates into continued improvements!!
My plan for the next few days is to plan out my race sched for next season.  As Race A is IM, I am going to consider all other races C.  That being said, I want to use the early races to get myself into the frame of mind mentally.  Work on getting my head to the start line without being a bundle of nerves so that I can get on the road focused on racing and not calming down.  With the swim being my weakness, starting calm will be important.  Most of all though it they will be a part of my training and not to work to set any PB.  Go out and have some fun and get into the race spirit.
After a great day I am heading off to get some rest. I have a decent workout day planned tomorrow, short run in AM, Yoga to keep stretching and then another swim practice tomorrow.
All you people about to race.....take a deep breath, enjoy the place that you have trained so hard to get to and run a proud race!  Cheers and Good luck~!