Full On Crazy Mode (or "I Think I'm Going to Puke")

My nerves are getting the best of me. Regardless of how good I felt during the weekend's workouts, as soon as I start thinking about the race, my heart beats faster, my legs feel weak, and I start to feel sick to my stomach.

Laced up and ready for my last long run

Swim Ready

The other day at lunch I sat staring at a Google Earth view of the swim course. I toggled back and forth between my Garmin data from Barb's Race and the map, trying to figure out distances. From the best I can tell, it's about 400y to the first bridge...then it gets shallow (can you say "stand up"?) and then about 600y to the turn-around. I swim 400y sets every time I get in the pool. I know I can do a 400y and I know I can do a 600y...now if I can string that 400-600-600-400-400-600-600-400 +/- together I'll be OK.

I keep asking myself "What's the worst that could happen?" Hmmm... My wave starts at 6:36am. The swim course closes 2 hours and 20 minutes after the last wave starts. It is hard for me to imagine not making this cut off. I'm thinking more like 1 hour and 25 minutes. I guess the worst thing would be not finishing and I really don't see that happening.

I just need to get through the swim...

Bike Freak Out

I love riding my bike! However, early last week I saw two separate reports about cyclists killed and/or severely injured. Friday night I saw a third post about a rider killed. On top of that, on my Thursday ride about two miles from our house, HS was almost hit by a driver running a stop sign. As much as I love riding, I am seriously getting freaked out about being on the road!

Part of my mind keeps thinking...oh how tragic if you get hit and killed Saturday on your last long ride before Vineman! People will talk about how sad it was that I didn't even get to complete the race I trained so hard for. ..SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!

Thankfully, the ride was nice and there were hardly any cars on the road.

As close to the Vineman course as possible (without driving 2 hours)

Weather Report

Since the 10 day weather report became available a couple of days ago, I've been checking it daily. On Thursday it called for a high of 81 on race day. Friday, the high had bumped up to 86. Saturday the high temp was predicted to be 82, on Sunday the prediction was back up to 83. Last year was 91+...83 doesn't sound so bad. And then I did it...I clicked on July 25th for Santa Rosa to see the detail.

The predicted wind is SW 10 to 15 mph! OMG! Anything but wind!!! I guess the good news is that most of my Tuesday and Thursday rides have been windy, but I really didn't want this on race day. When it's windy I have a much harder time judging my effort level.

Phantom Pains

My phantom pains are back but at least I'm used to getting them now so they don't freak me out as bad as they used to. I'm pretty sure my Achilles isn't a phantom pain, but it feels so much better than last year. Last year I was lucky to complete a 7 mile run in my last few weeks before the race. This year, while my mileage has increase significantly, the pain is much less.