Seven Week Itch
These are the weeks every endurance triathlete waits for. The Final Seven. Two more peak periods then taper. The beginning and the end of long, grueling, sweaty, calorie zapping workouts. Multiple mile swims; twenty plus mile runs; and multiple one hundred plus mile bike rides. When those workouts are packaged as bricks or "two-a-days" then you get big three to four thousand calorie burning days. Ironman anyone? What the heck are we thinking? Yesterday I watched about ten minutes of the 2012 Ironman Kona broadcast that re-ran on NBC. I had tried to not turn it on. A friend even texted to see if I was watching it. "Nope," I responded. "Makes me too anxious." He said, "I get it." When I watch it, I can smell it, hear it, and even feel it. I don't feel the grueling parts like keeping my feet moving during the run, but instead I feel the vibe in the air, the pulsating of my heart - and everyone else's - the staggering silence the mornin