Six days until race day!
Truly, I am getting so excited for this race. It’s what I’ve been training all summer for – I’ve been signed up for months and months. And it’s an out-of-town, overnight event, so Brandi and I have an entire girls’ weekend in Asheville, NC with NO KIDS and NO HUSBANDS. We love you guys, but… sometimes, it’s pretty fun to be ALONE. Hah. Know what I mean?! It’s going to be awesome!
I also realized something important this weekend: I’ve been kind of negative about how I’ve trained – thinking I could’ve done more (true) and haven’t done enough (maybe not true). I like to go into events feeling super prepared, but even when I don’t, I usually have a really good experience on race day.
So I keep panicking that I haven’t done enough, but then I do these long workouts and feel nice and strong… I realized this weekend that I’m better trained than I think I am, and this race is NOT going to be one long slog through triathlon hell. It’s going to be AWESOME. As long as I race at the correct pace for my abilities on Sunday, I will have a great time. And I’m so pumped.
So much of this race game is mental, huh? I think that’s one of the things I like best about it. As I said to Brandi, “I better check myself before I wreck myself!”
We did an open water swim + bike on Saturday. I really needed that practice open water experience because the only other time I’ve been in the lake this summer was during a sprint triathlon. I also really wanted some experience wearing my wetsuit!
So this Sunday’s race is WETSUIT LEGAL. I actually did this event back in 2011 (so long ago!) and opted NOT to wear wetsuit despite the lake’s 65 degree temperature because the one other time I wore a wetsuit during a race, it made me freak out in the water (wetsuits are, obviously, constricting). I was fine swimming in 65 degrees without one – just a little chilly – but I figured since this race is wetsuit legal, and wetsuits do make the swim easier (added buoyancy), I should give it another shot.
I actually borrowed the wetsuit from a reader named Laura (THANK YOU!!). Verdict: I am so glad that I am going to wear one. Once I got over the initial “oh my God, this thing is squeezing my chest” and adjusted to the way it impacted my stroke, I was fine! Better than fine, actually. I finished the swim in about 32 minutes, at least according to my estimate on Brandi’s watch (she was just behind me, sans wetsuit, which I think convinced her to get a wetsuit for the race, too, because she is typically WAY faster).
After the one mile swim, we went on a bike ride. Most of the people who do these open water swims are triathletes, so there’s always a huge group of people who transition to their bikes after. We picked up a new friend and all rode about 12 miles together. LOTS of hills. Good practice for a race in the mountains!
And afterwards, we got tacos, so my heart was happy.
All in all, I’m feeling really great about Lake Logan. I’ve put a few great long workouts under my belt recently, I feel mentally good about the swim, and I’m ready to tackle the course. I can’t wait for Sunday! Yippppeeeee!
Great job. I really think this will be a huge confident booster for next weekend! Chipotle is the best! I never get the tacos though, I feel like you don’t get nearly as much food as when you get a burrito or a bowl. I always save some leftovers for later, so I can enjoy it twice 🙂