The Final Countdown

Three days to Vineman! This week has been a little rough on my training schedule. My plan was to "taper" my workouts -- shorter, harder workouts -- by running five miles on Monday, swimming Tuesday, running three miles Wednesday, swimming Thursday, and running one mile Friday morning.

Well, I did run Monday morning and felt great, averaging under 9:00/mile for the first time on my regular five mile course near my house. However, this is the week of the beef industry's Summer Conference in Denver and I had to cancel my Tuesday swim and Wednesday run to attend early morning breakfast meetings, all day meetings and late evening dinners. But I got back on track this morning with a short, intense swim at the Castle Rock Rec Center and I am planning to run a 5K tonight in downtown Denver.

I will run tonight with about 40-50 other members of the Irish Snug Running Club. The Irish Snug is a pub in downtown Denver with a weekly 5K (3.1 mile) run every Thursday evening, followed by a free spaghetti dinner and $3 pints of Guiness. What a deal! I did my first Snug Run two weeks ago with three of my colleagues who are training for the Chicago Half Marathon on September 9. A competitive 5K is perfect for my tapering schedule this week.

If I can I will try to get in a short, hard ride tomorrow morning before disassembling my bike to pack it up for the trip to California. And, if allowed, I hope to get in a short swim in the Russian River on Saturday after I arrive just to get a feel for swimming upstream!

So that's the plan for my final three days before Vineman. I hope you'll stay tuned to DDublog this weekend for updates on my mental state after I arrive in California and the enormity of the goal ahead becomes reality!

Swim, bike and run on!

Daren