So this is it...

Figured I'd throw one more thing up on the blog before I leave to race in Maryland.

First, a quick training update. I've been a bit AWOL over the past month-and-a-half. I've (sadly) been avoiding social activities and even team workouts. As I see it, I needed to be a bit of hermit, dig in deep and put down good solo efforts to feel really prepped for this race.

I spent the end of August going for long weekend rides (6+ hours) and decent runs. Weekdays were filled with shorter, faster work and some recovery efforts as well. I took a brief break for some fun over the Labour Day weekend and then was back at it.

The last three weeks have been all over the place.

Three weeks ago, I put down my last really long workout: a practice almost-Ironman. I swam 2 miles, biked 110 miles and then ran about 11 miles. I was very lucky to have some help from my great teammate Margaret. She stayed with my bike while I swam, facilitated a quick downtown Manhattan T1, then met me out on the bike to do a bottle swap. Finally, she dropped off all my leftover gear back in the City. I really couldn't have done this workout without her. As a whole, things went well (all-in-all, about 9.5 hours of work) and I felt quite sore but not too, too brutalized afterward. Nutrition was nearly perfect.

Two weeks back, I had the pleasure of doing my last long ride with my buddy Nick Frey. He spent this past year riding pro with Time Pro Cycling and really gave me a good workout. We were out for about 4.5 hours and had a good time. I could tell that I was holding him back and really appreciated him taking the time to ride with me. We had a good long chat about life, his opportunities for next year and the possibility of me doing some serious cycling next year.

This week has been very tough. Taper is a lot rougher than I had expected. I feel abnormally anxious--guess that makes sense going from 15-20 hours of training per week to about 6. Also, I've felt extraordinarily tired... Guess the body is grabbing whatever rest I'll give it. At this point, I'm really, really nervous for the weekend. But, in my heart, I know that I'm going to finish this. There will be rough patches--it wouldn't be a challenge without them--but they will pass and I will get through this. I'd like to finish between 11 and 14 hours. My teammate David has pegged me for a 12:46; he claims to be nearly perfect at finish time prediction. Guess we'll find out.


And now, with the training update behind me, a few final thoughts as I head into this weekend:

For me, the best word to describe this past year is "weird." Fifty weeks ago, just after having finished my first Half Ironman, a fellow racer told me: "Well, you know what they say... If you can do a half then you can do a full." And so this journey began.

There have been ups and downs this year. Injuries. Bad races. Personal bests. Brutal winter runs. Early morning swims. Wonderful, summer-time rides. I've had bonks where I nearly fell asleep on the tarmack. And there have been 6-hour efforts out on the bike where I've felt like I have been reborn. When I look back on this year, I've gone through a lot of change, but my committment to this Ironman has always been constant. I've come to know myself in a completely different way and I can only imagine that this feeling will be amplified on Saturday when I cross the finish line.

So here I stand a year later, 26 lb lighter and 1000 hours more trained, waiting to undertake the biggest challenge of my life. Thanks to everyone who has been with me throughout the year--all my teammates on SBR, my early morning bike crew, my friends, my coworkers, my parents. As a teammate told me, "it takes a village to raise Ironman."

Catch you all in 140.6.