The two most important parts of the body for a triathlete are the feet. They carry one’s body weight while running to the water, act as propellers during the swim, provide a platform to pedal, and pound the ground for miles while running to the finish line. And when the race is over they bring you to the podium, car or most importantly, the post-race party!

Realizing this, the knowledge of how to preserve the integrity of one’s feet becomes paramount in getting to the starting line of the next race.

We’re coming down to the last few hours (hey – I can be hopeful) before the Big Day. I put in a quick easy three miles last night and felt great. Like really great. Like it was no effort to push out three sub 9:00 miles.

A few other things going on as I wind down:

• Phantom pain was here full bore this week. If I hadn’t been here before I would have been real concerned. Sore knees. Sore hips. Dead legs. I know it’s a sign of recovery.

The FDA issued a recall on certain products that contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein, including products such as McCormick & Company Onion Gravy Mix, two flavors of Pringles (Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger & Family Faves Taco Night), and many more well known products that contain hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) paste and powder distributed by Basic Food Flavors, Inc.

For a complete listing of products included in the HVP recall visit the FDA website.

The planning is done. All that’s left is the execution. Four more days of taper. Then it will be back to life as it should be.

Speaking of taper, I’m keeping my running light this week:

• Tuesday: 30 minute tempo run. (Done. 3.3 miles).
• Thursday: 3 miles. Stretching.
• Saturday: 2 miles with Cal Coast.

That will add to last week’s cutback of 26 miles. My legs should be fresh on Sunday. Everything felt pretty good during yesterday’s quick tempo run.

The Turbulence Training Bootcamp Workouts were so popular over the past year, Craig decided to go back to the drawing board to create 31 brand new Bootcamp Workouts.

Everyone can use these workouts, whether you are beginner to advanced,and even personal trainers can use them in their Bootcamp classes.

You’ll get proven Turbulence Training Bootcamp style workouts that will burn fat with little to no equipment.

Here are just some of the 31 TT Bootcamp Workouts you’ll get:

1. The TT Beginner Bootcamp 2K10
2. The TT Physical Testing Bootcamp
3. The TT Big 7 Circuit Bootcamp
4.

Yeah yeah. I know. This was supposed to be posted Saturday. But hey. The weather in Southern California is beautiful, so I took some time to enjoy the outdoors. Well – okay. I had to work. Boo hoo!

On Friday, I posted my starting line and pacing plans. Today I’m discussing my fueling plan. A good fueling plan needs to take three things into account: (1) what should I eat, (2) how much should I eat, and (3) how often should I eat it?

The best resources I’ve seen that discusses this issue are this one and this one from Hammer Nutrition. These are *excellent* technical articles.

So now that my race day plan is in place, it’s time to remember to do all the little things the day before and the morning of the event. These are the things that, if forgotten will leave me a little stress puppy.

Day Before the “Big Day”

Only three things to do on Saturday:

1. Stay off my feet as much as possible
2. Check to make sure I have adequate supply of Hammer Gels (9) and Endurolyte caps (27). If not, hit up the Nutrition Superstore in Costa Mesa.
3. Head over to Dodger Stadium for packet pickup around noon.
4. Grab lunch/dinner in Chinatown.

Snappy title to today’s posting, eh? That’s what happens when you sit down to write and random thoughts just start flowing. This is definitely one of the impromptu postings that is a result of trying to figure out my exercise game plan for this week.

I’ve been sticking to my machine-based workouts as instructed by Martial Art Hall of Fame inductee Scott Sonnon.

I have to admit that as much as I went in to this process kick and screaming (really, a machine-based workout?), I’m seeing results and not having the physical issues I was dealing with as I continue to rehab from my vestibular disorder.

I’ve also gotten great guidance from one of Scott’s faculty members, Coach Ryan Murdock.

Nine days. Count’em. That’s one day less than ten days. Drumming my fingers on my desk…..

Okay – so honestly – it’s time to start filling in the blanks for race day. There are two things that are missing right now – my race plan and my evening before and morning of plans. today I’ll make an attempt to tackle the first half of my race plan – the Start Line and my Pace Plan.

First things first. I’m old enough now to realize that once you get out of school, plagiarism is acceptable. Interestingly enough, have you tried to Google “Marathon Race Plan”? Nada.

I have determined that the best thing for a stress eater is the Wii Sports game that comes bundled with the Wii game system. When I feel stressed out during the day I go back to my room and play tennis on the Wii. Last night I hit Pro level on tennis. I’m getting in some good exercise too, since I set myself a rule that if I am going to play a video game, I am going to use the cleared area in front of the set to move around in. So I get in there and step into the swings and stuff.