Race Week!!

Before I ever started swim-bike-running, I creeped a few blogs of triathletes.  It was fun to see what they were training for, what they had accomplished, and how they went about fitting in the training.  One of the first blogs that I followed was my friend Erin.  She was a runner turned triathlete, like me.  So I was always excited to see her new posts to see what races she was doing and watch her progress.  Well, in her very first season of racing, she qualified for Age Group Nationals!  Such an accomplishment.  I was intrigued and went about trying to find out how one actually qualifies for said event.

After doing my research, I discovered that you qualify for Age Group Nationals if you win, or are in the top 10% of any USAT sanctioned race…and with that, my goal was set.  Mind you, this was before I had a bike, or tucked my hair into a swim cap.  But I have high standards for myself, so thought nothing of it.  In January, Age Group Nationals was front and center on my vision board, and every training session was geared towards that goal.

Well…the week is here!  Race day is Saturday, August 10 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I said goodbye to my bike last Tuesday as I cautiously left it in the care of Mike’s Bikes for Race Day Transport to ship my bike to the race venue.  Unfortunately, that was my only bike, but luckily I borrowed my friend Merriam’s road bike to squeeze in my last two training rides.  I don’t get to pick my bike up until Friday at the race expo, and am already having withdrawals!

I am tapering this week, which is a very weird feeling.  As much as I know my body needs rest, I hate feeling like I haven’t done anything!  I have swims and runs on tap until I pick up my bike on Friday.  Then, I’ll ride the run course before checking it into transition on Friday night.  I also have a flow session at FNS planned for tonight before I hop on the plane at 12:45 AM.  Trigger pointing and some serious stretching are definitely in order before a red eye flight to the Midwest!

On Wednesday morning, I’ll meet up with my dad at the airport and get started adjusting to the time change and the humidity.  According to weather reports, it’s predicted to be 75 degrees with 56% humidity on race day…hopefully that is accurate and not the 75% it originally said!  56% sounds like a lot, but when I looked at the humidity report for San Jose, CA for today, it says it’s 62%.  Totally surprised me...I thought the humidity percentage would be way lower here.  This bodes well and I'm crossing my fingers that the weather in Wisconsin feels like home and that I’ll handle it ok!

I’ve studied the course and it looks to be flat and fast…I’m hoping that all of my rides on rolling hills and my Tuesday morning track sessions will result in a PR on this type of course, especially with this coming taper week and fresh legs on Saturday.  It’s weird going into the race without any specific expectation.  I know that I’m going to be racing some of the fastest ladies in the country, and being a tri-newbie, I have no idea how I’ll measure up.  Also, this will only be my third Olympic Distance race!  First was Wildflower, which, aside from being my first Oly, was also crazy windy and super hilly.  Second with the California International Race, where I was super fatigued and the heat was unbearable.

So my main goal in the race is to have a PR in all 3 legs, and just to race my heart out!  I just read Iron War, and keep reflecting on the fact that the mind gives out before the body, so I’ll be repeating that to myself as I push the pace on Saturday!  But in addition to the race, I can’t wait to explore the city of Milwaukee with my dad who is my one man fan club for the week!  If you have any must see, must do, or must eat places in Milwaukee, make sure to give me a shout out!  I’ll be there bright and early Wednesday morning!