Will it ever stop???

This past week, it seems every day is blending into the next. I'm leaving 9 am Monday morning for China, and besides training, I still have lots to do beforehand.

This morning I had a 9 am work related meeting. It was a bummer I had to wake up so early, for the first time in a long time, my body was prepared to sleep in. Had it not been for the alarm, I would have slept at least a couple more hours.

After the meeting, I did my run. I had the best tempo run I can EVER remember having. I finished with a 4:32 km /7:18 mile pace. It was just an effortless run, I felt so light and my cadence was turning naturally fast. It was a beautiful pre-spring like day, 7C and sunny and I was on cloud nine.

During the run, I thought if I wasn't doing Ironman China, I'd definitely be cracking my first beer of the year this afternoon. As I ran, I started to focus, I got back into my athlete mode and began a series of "visualizations". Unfortunately, none of them were about triathlons.

They all revolved around seeing myself on a hot sunny day, on my deck at home, or on a restaurant patio, or at the beach, hanging with Alice, with a beer in my hand, just enjoying the moment. Although, I did have one triathlon "visualization".

It was the day after Ironman China and John, Simon and I were sitting on an outdoor patio, drinking beers and smoking cigars with Kona Qualifying letters in hand. I also "visualized" taking video at the start, the middle and the end of that day. Now that would be priceless. Definitely You Tube worthy. Especially since there will be no wives to tether us.

I finished the run, stretched and then went for a massage. The masseuse was amazed how quickly my body had recovered from our last session. He said he only sees that in high level athletes. My muscles felt great, no trigger points that caused pain. On Tuesday, he found lots of trigger points and had me gripping the table and taking deep breathes, today, as he worked just as hard, I feel asleep. Not a knot to be found.

After the massage I remembered I had to pick up some new long stemmed tubes. I called "Wheels on Bloor", they were closed and had a booth at the Toronto Bike Show, so that's where I went. It was a big show, bigger than I imagined. Hundreds of bikes for sale and some great deals. If I was looking for a decent bike, I'd definitely be going to that show.

It was a good thing I went. I had forgotten I needed Sable non-prescription goggles for the race. The prescription ones I have are the best I've ever had, never a leak. As luck would have it, I accidentally bumped into the Sable display.

At the show, I saw a new bike technology I'd never seen before. On an $11,000 Argon 18 E114 bike, Shimano has new shifters and derailleurs that are completely electronic. If you look closely at the picture above, you'll see the buttons you push, and when you do, it smoothly shifts the gears. The guys at the booth said it's the new wave of shifting technology and it won't be long until I see them everywhere.

My cynical thoughts were, "what a waste of money, it's the next wave of unnecessary expense to purchase and maintain. It doesn't make you go faster. In fact, it's more of a hassle if anything goes wrong".

I could see myself on the side of the road because my shifting battery died and I have no spare. Or it could be worse, it may have broken and can't be fixed without authorized mechanic and when I do find one, they have to use specific diagnostic equipment to determine the cause. Then they give me a bill for $400 just to fix my shifters.

With all that said, I can hardly wait to get mine.

Tempo Run - 1:15:13 / 16.56 km / 4:32 km or 7:18 mile pace / 143 avg hr

Post run weight - 175 lbs (had two good downloads).