One Week....

Man is time just flying by. This time next week I'll be less than four hours away from starting the double iron.

Last week I wrapped up my last good weekend of training. I worked Friday night (got off at 6AM), met up with a few friends in Plano and got a great four hour ride in. I had been up since 3PM the previous day so I was good and tired, but regardless I still felt a lot better than I expected! After the ride (got 75 miles in) I headed home to get a quick 5 hour nap in before getting up that night to run 20 miles.

I started the run at 8PM and finished at 11PM. The whole thing was in the dark. The run was perfect. I didn't plan on going fast, just nice and steady. Ran an even 9min pace with stops for food and drink. Afterwards I couldn't help but hop in the pool since it was a perfect ice bath!

That night I got to sleep around 12:30AM, then get up at 6:15AM so I could get another four hour ride in. I expected to be pretty smashed from the previous day and lack of sleep, but I really didn't feel too bad once I got going. The bike ride flew by and I ended up riding a little over 70 miles solo. I had to wrap the ride up NO later than 11AM so I could meet Courtney and the family for my grandmothers 80th birthday!!

We had an incredible time at Abuelos and she was unbelievably surprised to see us! We'd been planning this surprise party for about a year, so it was nice to finally pull it off! She's an incredible woman, and probably the hardest worker I know. I couldn't have asked for a better role model or caring parent growing up.

I'm also tying up a few loose ends before the double. Aaron and I are leaving on Wednesday morning of next week, so I'm getting as much done as possible this week. I finally replaced the chain and cassette on the road bike I'll be racing!

That's much better for sure!

I started "tapering" on Monday, but the workouts are still fairly intense with a lot of focus. I'm trying to think about the race while out riding or running, and thinking about how I'll feel at different points. When I ride right now, I ride like I have another 150 miles to go.

I'm taking today off in hopes of getting the actual packing part of stuff started. I've been slowly adding to my list of stuff to pack over the past month and I finally think it's about complete.

I'm going to be running my 6th Cowtown Half marathon this weekend!! This is one of the few races I've done EVERY year since I started exercising. Scott is coming into town which makes me unbelievably happy. We now have a guest room with a bathroom so he'll have his own side of the house! He's coming back from a foot surgery in hopes of finishing Boston so this is a big test for him. The plan for me is to run the half marathon around 1:40-1:45, then turn back and run till I find him, then run the rest in with him. Hopefully I'll get an easy 15 miles in.

Everything is coming together nicely for the double. I will keep everyone updated on the race as we get closer. If anyone is interested the RD told me that he'll be keeping updates online HERE.

So far this whole double experience has been incredible. I know to most it sounds a little crazy, but how many races have you done where the race director gave you his cell phone number in case you had any problems?! At Ironman you're lucky to get swim cap nowadays!

I'll check back in early next week before Aaron and I head out. Again, big shout out to Aaron for being my solo crew chief. I couldn't do this without him!

For now I leave you with an old music video on youtube I used to listen to all the time. Pretty rare remix by Ben Gibbard. Take care!

_Jacob_