The other day there was a post letting everyone know that the race programs were available on the Vineman website. Of course I had to check it out and that brought my anxiety to a new level! You see, I am a rule follower and the race program is full of rules! I'm feeling overwhelmed.
The funny thing is, they aren't hard rules to follow (bring your USAT card and picture ID, no drafting, set up your bike in the correct transition area, etc). The rules just represent additional ways I feel I can screw up my race. I've already got a ton of doubts that I've some how screwed up my training, now I've got the additional worries of screwing up with the rules.
Ignorance is No Excuse
In my very first triathlon I was so worried about following the rules that when I came up behind two riders with a "C" on the back of their legs, I was unsure what to do (I thought all the athletes had their age on the back of their legs).
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| The way I thought it should look |
Silly me...I thought that the "C" meant they were coaches (which made me wonder why James wasn't out there on the course) and I was afraid to pass a coach. Was passing a coach allowed? Would they report me if I did it wrong? As it turns out, "C" meant they were in the clydesdale division. So all I ended up doing was following some heavy set guys that I could have (or should have) passed! What a dummy!
Sabotage
Last week I had a bit of a problem with goat head thorns and flat tires. In my impatience, I decided to run with my bike shoes on (just trying to get back at that point) and I ruined my cleats. No big deal, I had an extra pair of cleats at home.
Today I decided to hop on my trainer and make sure the cleats where where I wanted them. They felt a little loose, so I tightened them up a bit. Unfortunately, I tightened one screw just a bit too much and broke something inside of the shoe. Great! Now I either have to race with a shoe that only has two screws holding on the cleat or find a new pair of shoes.
This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that I have an olympic distance race on Sunday. So much for not trying anything new on race day. Sometimes I wonder if I am purposely trying to make myself freak out!
NOTE: I am happy to report that HS was able to fix my shoe by taking a part out of his old shoes and grinding it down to fit. I still might get a new pair of shoes...after all, it's been a few days since he's had to buy me any triathlon gear :-)
Phantom Pains
Not only do I have an olympic distance race on Sunday, but I have a 5k fun run on Saturday. At this point, my phantom pains are starting to appear and I have a mind to bubble wrap myself and hide until Barb's Race.
Will I do some sort of permanent damage during the 5k? What about Sunday's triathlon? What if I catch a bug in the next couple of weeks? On top of that, my mom is convinced I have some sort of terrible foot disease that is causing my toes to cramp after running in 100 degree heat. Couldn't be that running in 100 heat might cause cramping!
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| I think it's all in my head |
I first became aware of phantom pains before my first marathon. In the week before the race, I started having pain...not one specific pain, but sporadic, random pains that disappeared as quickly as they appeared. I really thought something was wrong. I did a Google search on pain before a marathon and low and behold I found that it was something that happened to a lot of athletes...phantom pain.
Here's a list of my phantom pains:
- Sore knee(s) - random spots that keep changing and moving back and forth from knee to knee
- Stiff neck (probably from sitting in front of a computer all day)
- Sore shoulders (not often, but probably because I don't pay any attention to my knee pain)
- Sore feet - once again random sore spots; for example - no pain shopping after lunch, climb out of the truck afterwards - sore again
For anyone interested in learning more about this strange affliction, you can read about it on Runner's World:
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/taper-traps?page=single
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