Susceptible to Trauma

During the last couple of weeks and days to Ironman, I find that I am hyper-sensitive to any sort of bodily trauma. This includes getting bumped too hard on the subway, having my kids jump in my lap or pulling a muscle by taking the stairs to my bedroom too fast. Right now I am positive that I am on the urge of a hamstring pull/tear so I am taking two days off in a row (yesterday and today). I feel like my body still hasn’t recovered from the training, so I am taking tapering to an extreme form – total rest. It’s like putting in a mega weekend of training only in reverse.

One thing I am going to have to do when I leave for Lake Placid is turn my cell phone off. I need to get the worries and concerns of work out of my mind and want to black out any sort of input from the outside world. The problem is that when I turn it on, I can be guaranteed that the infernal contraption will start blithering and blathering that I have email and voice mail. It will be hard to ignore that when I go to call my wife and kids.

Tomorrow I am taking off from work in order to pack for the trip. I will probably do a light workout tomorrow and get a haircut. My daughter is telling me I should shave my chest and legs for the race, but my son wants me to keep the chest hair. He likes the feel of it on my chest and there really is no good reason to shave it since I will be wearing a wetsuit. Perhaps I will just shave my legs as a compromise.

I just have to make it through today in order for me to start forgetting about work. Hopefully it will pass quickly and I could get on with the business of relaxing before the race. I don’t like the thought of hoping for time to pass quickly, as it feels a little like wishing your life away. However, in cases like this, I will give myself a pass because I know better things are coming in the days ahead.