training stuff
I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, prepping for another half Ironman this weekend. It feels a little unreal given that last weekend, I was out on the Olympic peninsula on my fully loaded mountain bike with Komorebi.
The weekend before a race is supposed to be all about rest; certain schlepping camping gear up and down trails, and then hiking 2 miles awkwardly carrying bike bags to a campground counts as rest, right?
My tri-nerd metamorphosis is now complete: I bought a triathlon bike. As it turns out, there is a difference between tri bikes and TT bikes–tri bikes are not UCI legal. So I guess I won’t be doing any UCI time trials after all.
Somehow I managed to push life away for a long time to focus on training. From January until race day in early May, I avoided going out of town, doing any major house work or having to work late.
Life came back to me in an avalanche the second I got back from Utah.
The story of St George begins the evening before we hit the road, when DJ and I drove out to Hagg Lake to take part in an open water swim race. I hadn’t done an open water swim since Blue Lake Tri in 2008, when I panicked and had difficulty just getting through it. I recall sitting up and treading water, my breath fast and ragged, waiting for everyone to swim by me so I could begin with the tangle of arms and feet around me.
I’ll admit it: typing “race week” makes me a bit nauseated. Nervous excitement! I’m going to have to figure out how to not be nervous all week long; usually I just try not to think about the race at all until race morning, but with so many things to pack and prepare for, I don’t think that will be possible.
Everyone has asked if I’m tapering for the race. Apparently I am, although it doesn’t necessarily seem like it from looking at my workout schedule.
The workouts are generally shorter, but harder. We’re “sharpening” my fitness. I keep imagining a pencil sharpener for some reason, although that’s not very intimidating is it?