Last nite my IT band is acting up. I roll it out with my TPMassage roller, a cloth bound roller which you lay on and massages your muscles as you move back and forth. It seems to take out my soreness and knots which is really good. I need to be loose for the race.
Even now I experience little aches and pains. This seems to be consistent with other races during taper as my muscles seem to protest. Sometimes the aches are sharp and I am afraid that something serious has happened. But almost every time I am proven wrong. I asked my PT guy about this and he said that training and stressing your muscles causes pain-killing endorphins to course through your body. Any minor ache is masked completely, and only the really serious stuff comes through.
But then, during taper (or off season), your training volume is way down. I find that now even minor aches feel severe and it’s merely because the endorphins aren’t circulating any more. But my problem is that I can’t distinguish the “minor” pain from “big trouble” pain and now every little ache feels serious! I try to relax, knowing that most likely it is nothing serious and on race day everything will be OK.
I look in the mirror and see the typical drawn look that racers have right before a race. I have really thinned out. Last year I was 156 lbs when I started training for Ironman NZ. On race day, I weighed in at 151 lbs. Then, later last year at NYC Marathon, I weighed 147 on race morning. I wonder what I will weigh in at this year at Ironman Austria. Like for bike racing, I want to be as light as possible. Less mass to carry around with me and waste energy with!
I take some time to reflect on the training resources that have brought me here this year. I’d like to thank Dr. C and Dr. Steve and the staff at Team Clinic in Santa Clara, without their ART I would be tight mass of rock instead of loose and fast; Dr. Rikke at HealthLogic in Menlo Park, whose torturous Graston technique busts through my knots like a hot knife through butter; and my coach Mike McCormack of M2, whose training has got me here today. I will wear his team colors at the race.
I feel remarkably relaxed about the race. It is now hot and humid in Klagenfurt with rain on the way, as reported by my buddy Dan who is also racing and he is there now. I hope it cools down.
Flight to Heathrow leaves in about an hour…