Pre-race hypochondria

It's one week to go before the Barcelona race. I am in my usual state of pre-race hypochondria: being quite susceptible to colds that then go on for weeks I have missed a fair few big races in the past, so I get extra paranoid in the week or two before a race. This time I have managed to pick up a bit of a snuffle and a sore throat: it'll either go in the next few days or it'll move into my chest and the Barcelona race will not be happening for me.

The taper for this has not been too smooth. The last long ride was the Southern Sportive, which was a pretty tough day out. I chose to do the medium length option at the last minute because I wasn't feeling too perky, so in total (including riding to and from the start) I got in 120km of hilly windy riding. Finished the sportive in 4.28, not exactly fast but I did spend a good part of the ride out by myself slogging into a headwind. A couple of days later I put in my last long run, a massive 24km epic. All was OK on the run but I picked up a niggling pain in my left calf which has put me off running. It's slowly going and touchwood it'll be fine for race day. Swimming has been slack: I have been putting training off when I shouldn't and I'm not really where I ought to be. Had a nice 1900m in the lake at the Princes Club yesterday though. Today was meant to be about 50km on the TT bike as a final shake-down, sporting my new pointy hat, but I've blown it out because of the aforementioned snuffle. Hopefully get it in tomorrow if I recover miraculously quickly. All in all then quite a few little irritations that will hopefully be smoothed over by a week of very little training.