"Two Weeks From Today"

That's what Nancy said to me within five minutes of waking up. I had thought the same thing about one minute earlier. I leave a week from tomorrow. My flight leaves Houston around 6:30 in the evening and I sit around LA until almost midnight before heading out on the 14 hour leg to Sydney on Qantas. The objective is to not sleep until that leg and then try and sleep most of the way with the help of Excedrin PMs. I arrive at 8:25 AM on Friday morning so I want to get on their time right away. I've found that oversleeping in advance helps make it easier to jump right into their day. I'm going to the harbor sightseeing on Saturday morning but need to have my running workout done before Phillip picks me up at 10:30. Here's another Games promo with the harbor view.

Thursday is my last high level vault session and I'm a little afraid since it's only 12 days out. If I get hurt then it's over. My plan is to start on a big pole from a close run on so I'll have to be very warmed up and careful. I've done it a bunch of times but not recently so I'm very wary and cautious. It's right in line with the progression that I have been following so it's not like I'm taking a real gamble. I just have to be careful and a little more alert to any signs of weakness. I should be fine, BUT ....

It rained most of the night so it was pretty wet when I went out to run my six hills with the sled this morning. My body felt decent but I decided to stop at four rather than do the planned six, since that just felt like the right amount for today. It's hard to explain. My body got a signal that said, "if you want to feel good on Thursday you need to stop here because two more won't make a beneficial difference at this stage". Considering I ran eight on Thursday and 10 on Sunday (two days ago), I'm good with that decision.

The sled is also the reason my run is moving back again. I went comfortably from 42' 6" to almost 44' in one practice. This means I'm covering more ground with the same number of steps which equates to slightly more speed and power. The effort feels the same, I just cover more ground and gain more momentum. I've been in a situation before that, for example, if I wasn't running from 45' I can't get in on that pole enough to complete the vault. So this is a good and expected result from the training. NOTE - I've got a close friend, DJ, who says he thinks I overtrain but actually I don't as I vary my effort to keep from being rundown. In fact, it's rare that I ever feel trashed and overtrained. This is part of the labeling of "Quality" or "Intensity". This also is how I feel motivated to train all year around. Again, it's just listening to the body so it doesn't have to yell at you.

Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful that you guys and gals are here. This isn't a narcissistic vent but rather a true expression of what I'm going through. I feel like I'm sharing this privately with my close confidants and it is a big benefit and provides reasonable relief. I say reasonable because gang, the heat WILL rise as we get on the move to the actual Games. I'm excited in a good way but will lean on you more than ever. Thanks again for being there! Bubba