I'm really surprised how well I'm feeling. This far out from the St. Jude half marathon I was really worn out and second guessing everything. But so far, so good! Thursday was my last long ride, and so now I'm in full taper mode.
Last Thursday I rode 25 miles out on the roads with a friend, then finished my race rehearsal ride by myself on a local trail (for a total of 48 miles). This was followed up with a 6 mile run. It was really windy and tough! I'm lucky I don't have spring allergies because there was so much pollen that my bike and my skin were yellow by the time I was done.
Speaking of the wind- around mile 40 I heard trees above me cracking so I sprinted out of the way and this branch landed right behind me. I had enough of the wind and headed for home after this.
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Tuesday was my last long run of just 7 miles which felt better than my 9 from the week before.
Then later I took my bike in for what I hope to be the last adjustment. My wrists were still achy and would tingle when I went into the drops, and my saddle has not been comfortable and I couldn't ignore it anymore with all of these long rides. He adjusted my handle bars a bit and swapped my saddle out for a women's saddle and ta-da! Instant relief. I had no problems at all Thursday during my ride, and I felt more stable and felt comfortable letting go of my handle bars. This is all very good.
Tuesday night, Anna and I went out to the lake for a short swim. I finally tried on my wetsuit, and it fit and I felt good in the water. I haven't done an open water swim since last year, and I still enjoy it.
I wasn't sure if I'd have to readjust to open water, so that's a relief, too. Not quite sure what to expect with the ocean swim, but I'm looking forward to it.
I still get nervous about the race, but mostly I'm excited. I had been worried about my projected finish time because it seems ambitious for my first HIM. I worried about what type of winds we'll have on the bike, and what if it slowed me down too much and my bike split was longer than expected. I've only told a few people my goal time, and I'm sticking to that to keep the pressure off, but I finally realized that my projected paces are based on perfect conditions. If I have a head wind for the first 28 miles, and then the winds shift and I have a head wind for the last 28 miles, too- then my bike split will be longer than planned- oh well. I need to focus on my heart rate rather than speed and stay in the right zone and save my energy for the run which is where I'm strongest.
Here are my worst to best case bike scenarios:
- Headwind in both directions
- Crosswind the entire course
- Tailwind for first 28 with headwind for last 28
- Headwind for first 28 with tailwind for last 28
- No wind
- Tailwind in both directions (come on, wind! shift for me!)
And who knows, rain might be in the equation. Any of those situations will result in vastly different speeds. The wind wouldn't be as much of a factor if I had been comfortable with my aero bars, but I wasn't yet. And that's okay. I won't be the only one without them. The more I've ridden with the group, the more I realized I'm not the only one who is nervous on the bike or riding in aero. For some reason I had it in my head that I'd be the only one and that I didn't belong doing this distance. But that's not true. Maybe it seems more intimidating because we'll be racing with the professionals and other hardcore amateur athletes- which is different than the local short triathlons I've raced.
But it's pretty darn cool that we race with the professionals on the same course. Not many sports can say that. I won't see them after the swim start- they'll be finishing when I'm still on my bike- but they'll be there, and that's exciting.
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