With Time and Patience, We Will Overcome

With exactly one week until the Rhode Warrior 1/2 Iron Man Triathlon, it is officially taper week!  Wikipedia's definition of taper week is:

1. In the context of sports, tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition. Tapering is customary in many endurance sports, such as long-distance running and swimming. For many athletes, a significant period of tapering is essential for optimal performance.
   

Whoo hoo!  Less training, more time with family, sleeping past 5:30!  This should be the best part.   Well, not really... it's kind of kooky.  For triathletes, making sure all three sports are at peak performance is like trying to round up puppies in a box.  When you get one or two puppies (swim and bike?) in the box, the third is not where it should be and you go off chasing that puppy (the run?).  Meanwhile, puppies one and two are climbing out of the box again!  

Mental preparation is a big part of taper week.  I have moments of feeling totally ready to race to moments of panic.  Did I run enough?  Am I eating too much?  Am I eating the right things? Do I have the right socks?  The funniest is probably the dreams during taper week.  Dreams about forgetting to bring stuff to the race, (omg, the bike!), can't find the race, restarting the race over and over and swimming or running naked.

Did we remember to put on our wet suits??

According to the experts of endurance race training, tapering should have started last week for me.  I have not been one to follow the training plans largely because my body tends to not cooperate with the timing.  I haven't been running much since March, just enough running to qualify as a bike/run brick.  A brick in the triathlon world is when you do two disciplines back to back, bike and then run immediately, as you would in a tri.  For the past two weeks, I have been cramming the run workouts in hopes of making up for lost training.  And..... the foot started hurting again.  OK, I need to be patient with my body I told myself.  These run workouts are not going to make me faster and I know I can survive the 13.1 miles as a shuffle.  I  need to take my time and have patience with my body during the run portion of the tri.  

My buddy Marie is recovering from an injury and hasn't been able to train for a month.  I have missed her and she has desperately missed training.  She has exercised incredible patience letting her body heal while I and the tri group have been training hard for the upcoming races.  Typically, Marie wins her age group and has even placed 1st for women.   Today, Marie biked, ran 6 miles and swam a mile and is contemplating jumping in the Rhode Warrior Olympic event.  There's no question about whether she can finish but rather the bigger question, can she take her time and be patient with her body?

Jackson James

Mr. Servando N. Pesarillo MD

Two dear friends had great losses this week.  One lost her Dad and one lost her best friend, her dog.  While these are two very different losses, both are painful, heart-wrenching and life-changing.  Time and patience will make memories of their loved ones clearer and a little less painful.  

Aimee had her first interval of her second set of chemo this past Thursday.  Previously, she was prepped by the oncology staff that it was going to be rougher than the first round.  It was difficult to face since she doesn't feel sick even though they tell her she has inflammatory breast cancer (the aggressive and unusual sort).  This treatment was rough and made her very sick.  She still is sick as I write this on Sunday.  Three more intervals over the next 7 weeks will be a mountain to climb.   

Mystic River Valley Triathlon 2014 - Aimee Reed

Time and patience, my friend, and you will get there.  

This time next year, Aimee, we will be at Rhode Warrior 1/2 Iron Man taper week 2016 together.

Thank you to the good friends who have donated to Aimee's fund.  These funds will help Aimee with medical costs and expenses for when she is unable to work.  You can make donations here:

http://www.gofundme.com/7fb3vvesg

Shout out to Ian - thank you for lifeguarding at 6:00 am.  We like having your watchful eye ;).