Honestly, right now, I wish I could get the whole thing over and done with tomorrow. Not in a bad way, but in the sense that; I'm really not going to get much fitter in the next couple of weeks, I think I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be (ie. not very) and it now feels a little bit like I'm just treading water ahead of the big day.
The anticipation's obviously been heightened by the start of the Tour proper. Today was an unexpectedly interesting day - the crosswinds allowing Team Columbia-HTC to split the field, even though the stage was basically flat. Cavendish is clearly unbeatable at the moment - ITV mentioned a stat that he'd won 82% of the sprints he's contested this year (!), which sounded quite impressive enough until the man himself reminded them that he's come second in the other 18%.
The last week or so has been spent getting final preparations under way. The bike went in for a service, which all feels great, apart from the fact that for some reason they saw it fit to raise my seatpost by about 8 inches, which has meant a few days of fiddling about to try and get it back to it's proper position, and a bit of a strained right hip-flexor in the process.
The bike (should I have given her a name by now?) looks very pretty with her new Michelin Pro 3 tyres - with yellow sidewalls to match the yellow flashes on the frame. She's all ready to go now.
As far as getting my body ready to go, I've been concentrating on the 2 week programme of speed and power exercises recommended by Dr Garry Palmer. This mostly consists of short hill repeats, and bursts of 'Time Trial' efforts - all of which I've been doing in Richmond Park.
Also had a good 60 mile club run on Sunday which helped improved my mood. I felt good all the way round - was up near the front of the group on the hills and into the wind, and definitely felt strong going upwards. Where possible, I was trying to keep my efforts in 'the big ring', to augment my power training, and that all seemed to go pretty well.
I've also been doing my best to continue with the management of my sore knee. For the last week or so, with the help of the physiotherapist, I've been taping it in order to pull the kneecap over towards the inside edge of my leg to try and make sure it follows a less destructive line of travel during my pedal strokes.
As alluded to in an earlier post, I've also made a couple of purchases which I'm hoping will help. One was a new pair of Specialized Body Geometry Comp Road Shoes. Specialized shoes seemed to offer the most opportunity to alter your foot position, and I bought them with a pair of insoles, which also come with 'shims' to place on the footbed of the shoe, which are aimed at correcting the position of my feet.
According to the physiotherapist, they do seem to do a good job of correction. They were a tiny bit uncomfortable the first time I wore them, so I had some concerns, but that's eased off now and they feel much better than my old Pearl Izumi shoes. In the old ones, my big toes used to get forced forward into the toe of the shoe, swiftly rendering them numb...in the new ones, the footbed of the shoe 'kicks up' just after the ball of the foot, providing a sort of natural wedge to stop this happening. So all in all, so far I think they were a really worthwhile purchase.
As I said, I'm starting to look forward to the Etape now, and I'm really going to try to do my best to enjoy the day and take in as much of the experience as I can. I think I'm really privileged to have been given the chance to do such an amazing thing, and I really want to make the most of it.
Obviously this is all tempered by a fear of failure, which I guess is only natural. However, I know I've put in the training, I know I can do the distance, and I know I can do it in the required time - so it's important to remember that any fears are really just fears of an unforeseen accident or mishap, and there would never be anything I could do about that.
One thing that's given me slight concerns in the last month is that early on in the process, it was suggested that we'd probably get good start numbers on a kind of 'vip' basis ' - not that I would ever claim such status, but because of our link with Sky etc. For ages, our team hasn't had start numbers on the official Etape website, but they've turned up in the last week or so - unfortunately all in the region of 9450 and higher....ie. right at the back, nearest the broom wagon. There was some suggestion at the workshop last week that our numbers are still 'TBC', but I have a slightly uncomfortable feeling that the numbers are what they are, and I'll just have to start quickly! If that's the way it turns out, then that's the way it is - someone's got to have those numbers, and I certainly wouldn't claim any 'right' to have a better position...just would have been 'calming'!
Part of it of course is that having bored friends and relatives about the Etape for the last 5 months - through sheer childish enthusiasm rather than hubris or pride - to not finish it would be really crushing. Anyhow, I'm trying to 'visualise' success rather than failure, and as I say, my key aim at the moment is to do everything in my power to enjoy the experience.
This weeks weights and measures:
Weight: 10 stone 10 lbs
Body Fat: 16.4%
Visceral Fat Rating: 5
Basal Metabolic Rate: 6889kJ/1646kcal
Water: 58%
I think these stats suggest that maybe I've reached my 'equilibrium'. I'm not going to lose much more weight now, and this is no time to be starving myself. I've lost 18 pounds during my training, comfortably exceeded the target weight loss set for me by Garry Palmer and fallen just 3 pounds short of my own most wildly optimistic target, so nothing to concern me there.
I'm going to see Dr Palmer on Thursday to get my 'after' stats - where hopefully I'll see some fitness improvements from my training. That should be really interesting.
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