Sweet.

The pilgrimage to the start of Whirlpool 70.3 last year

Ahh.. stop and smell the taper my friends. Ok..I'll admit its a bit strange to be tapering when I just feel like I got started training again! O wait, that's because I did.

My races are just spaced much differently than last year, and it isn't ideal, but it is what it is.

By this time last year I had a very solid part of June and most of July Ironman training under my belt. Every Saturday was spent getting acquainted with 5+ hour bikes and saying hello to some really long swims and 2+ hour runs! I had some serious endurance on the menu for this time of year!

This year... not so much.

It's nice though I have to admit to have some Saturday left AFTER the training is over! I can do things - like clean my house, wash my car (ok..I said I COULD, I didn't say I did!). You get the point.

This weekend is Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3. This will be my third year in a row competing, and it feels nice to know a course and race pretty well before even stepping foot in the expo. Last year it turned into a duathlon and that did not make me (or my legs) happy when they had to sprint a 5K before we jumped on our bikes. That second run HURT! I do hope we can swim this year and do a real true half ironman.

I can't WAIT to see my friend Jim and catch up. We have some dinner plans with his crew for Saturday night after the race to re-cap our day and it should be wicked fun.

This week is a few small workouts and recovery. I put in two pretty darn solid weeks after my time off, and I can say I feel good about it! It will be interesting to see what doing things this way (two weeks off, two weeks training, one week taper) brings on Saturday!

To all the IMLP'ers this past weekend - amazing! You did simply awesome! I saw some great race times, and I know my friend Chad had a truly inspirational day and missed a slot to Kona by such a small margin. You're still an A+ athlete in my book my friend! The Pittsburgh Tri had some fast times too - Rob & Janine - way to go!

If you wouldn't mind, say a little prayer for my good friend Lissa who will be taking the bar exam this week. She'll be staying with me for a few days, and I am asking the Man for some grace and to calm her down so she can focus! We both appreciate it!

The Kim & Lissa Show in Aruba this year! You can do it Lis! I believe in you!