This week marks about 6 weeks until my first triathlon. A little less when you consider packet pickup is the weekend before. On one hand, I'm feeling prepared. On the other, it's getting down to crunch time. I'm actually fairly confident with where my fitness is currently. Or, should I say, I'm not going to make huge gains over the next month and a half. At this point, it's more about staying healthy, avoiding injury, calming my nerves, being prepared. Going over the day in my head.
Kelly wants to bring the kids...which is awesome. But that will also be a long, long day considering I will want to be AT the transition area (that's the "homebase" where you rack your bike and lay out your gear for you non-tri folks) at 4:30am when it opens. Which means leaving the house by 3:30am or so. The race starts at 6:30am and you figure the kids won't be that interested in staring out into a lake to try to find the little swimming people--let alone me specifically. The bike, I'll be flying past at around 20mph so that will be a blur. Really, Kelly is hoping to get a good spot for the run...maybe where they can catch me twice, going slower, and recognize it as Daddy doing his sport.
We're headed to Minnesota this weekend, but I've been plenty busy physically over the last few days that I don't feel I'll be losing too much if I take a weekend for travel. I've run a couple 10k workouts to see where I stand. I did half a mile in the pool the other day and plan on getting the full 1500m in once before the event. And I'm pretty confident about the bike. I've gotten my cruising speed to near 20mph and will be curious to see what I can do when I don't have traffic and stoplights holding me back on a closed course. (I need to be able to hold 14mph for 8 hours if I am to survive the Ironman course.)
I hit Salt Creek Trail over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see only one flooded spot still. The rest of the trail had been swept of debris--even the disgusting bridge under I-294 that is usually full of mud even in the best and driest times. I've pulled the kids in the bike trailer a couple times which is a lot of fun. And tonight I'm considering a group ride with the local cycle club. They do a fast training ride just before dusk that I may be quick enough to be in their slow group.
In fact, I usually train alone, but have been feeling a bit more social. I was invited to do a lake swim in the water where the race is held. And two locals from the beginner message boards have invited me to ride the course with them in a couple weeks. Which will be nice to know where I'm going ahead of time.
I'll be honest, I'm looking at the times from 2012 and nervous about where I fall. Almost certainly not last place, but I'm fairly confident that I'll be in the back of the pack. I'm mostly nervous that my swim will be so slow I'll have instantly put myself behind everybody. Then again, my goal is to have a good day and not kill it. I have no PR to even compare so it's just my time whatever it is. From T1 forward, it will be fun. I'm just going to have to mentally prepare for jitters standing on shore waiting for my swim wave. That's really the worst part...not actually doing the thing you hate, but sitting and waiting for the thing you hate to begin!
Kelly wants to bring the kids...which is awesome. But that will also be a long, long day considering I will want to be AT the transition area (that's the "homebase" where you rack your bike and lay out your gear for you non-tri folks) at 4:30am when it opens. Which means leaving the house by 3:30am or so. The race starts at 6:30am and you figure the kids won't be that interested in staring out into a lake to try to find the little swimming people--let alone me specifically. The bike, I'll be flying past at around 20mph so that will be a blur. Really, Kelly is hoping to get a good spot for the run...maybe where they can catch me twice, going slower, and recognize it as Daddy doing his sport.
We're headed to Minnesota this weekend, but I've been plenty busy physically over the last few days that I don't feel I'll be losing too much if I take a weekend for travel. I've run a couple 10k workouts to see where I stand. I did half a mile in the pool the other day and plan on getting the full 1500m in once before the event. And I'm pretty confident about the bike. I've gotten my cruising speed to near 20mph and will be curious to see what I can do when I don't have traffic and stoplights holding me back on a closed course. (I need to be able to hold 14mph for 8 hours if I am to survive the Ironman course.)
I hit Salt Creek Trail over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised to see only one flooded spot still. The rest of the trail had been swept of debris--even the disgusting bridge under I-294 that is usually full of mud even in the best and driest times. I've pulled the kids in the bike trailer a couple times which is a lot of fun. And tonight I'm considering a group ride with the local cycle club. They do a fast training ride just before dusk that I may be quick enough to be in their slow group.
In fact, I usually train alone, but have been feeling a bit more social. I was invited to do a lake swim in the water where the race is held. And two locals from the beginner message boards have invited me to ride the course with them in a couple weeks. Which will be nice to know where I'm going ahead of time.
I'll be honest, I'm looking at the times from 2012 and nervous about where I fall. Almost certainly not last place, but I'm fairly confident that I'll be in the back of the pack. I'm mostly nervous that my swim will be so slow I'll have instantly put myself behind everybody. Then again, my goal is to have a good day and not kill it. I have no PR to even compare so it's just my time whatever it is. From T1 forward, it will be fun. I'm just going to have to mentally prepare for jitters standing on shore waiting for my swim wave. That's really the worst part...not actually doing the thing you hate, but sitting and waiting for the thing you hate to begin!