It's Finally Here

What I have been preparing for during the last 11 months; the week of the big triathlon! This Friday after work I'll be flying out of DFW to Sacramento for the 8am race on Saturday morning. In the evening it's off to celebrate with old friends and eat some pasta! I wouldn't usually go out for pasta, but hey, after you burn 1400 calories running a triathlon, it's more of a concern of getting enough calories that day, not a problem of too many. I'll be returning to DFW on Sunday evening so I can get home and have a birthday dinner with Lori and the kids. I'm so excited.

I'm feeling pretty good about where I am physically. I did not meet my goal of trying to get below 200 pounds before the tri, but that's ok. Post-tri, I plan to change my workout and have a different, fat-burning focus that includes much more cardio and long-slow burn at that. I plan to really work my problem areas of the back of the arms, the tummy, the legs and the butt. I was referred to some good little mini workout videos on YouTube, which I found are pretty easy to do at home and are pretty comprehensive. They are: 8 Minute Buns, 8 Minute Legs, 8 Minute Abs and 8 Minute Arms. These are short and very focused and trust me, if you try them out, you'll probably be sore the next day. I did them all together yesterday and I'll do it again tomorrow and that'll be it before the tri. I'm planning on doing those 3-4 times a week for a month or so starting next week. We'll see what that does for the problem areas. As for the rest of this week, lighter cardio everyday except Friday, which will be a day off.

As for where I'm at mentally, I'm starting to get butterflies. I respond to this by getting organized, making lists, reading up on whatever it is and trying to ignore the nerves about what's coming up. I'm re-reading certain sections of Slow, Fat Triathlete and picking up Triathlon mags and reading online resources such as beginnertriathlete.com. Because of all of the recent, record-setting rain here in North Texas, I was not able to do any swimming in a local lake as part of my bricks. These once drying up lakes are now overfilled to the point of closure due to flooding. This makes me nervous not to have had this kind of practice, but there's not really anything I can do about it but forge ahead into the tri on Saturday. Otherwise, I've practiced my biking and learned about saving my legs for the run and I've improved my running capabilities, so I feel good about that. The last thing I've been mentally preparing for is the unknown, unexpected or the previously-not-considered and how would I react to such things. What would I do? Things like flat tires, murky water, getting kicked or punched on the swim or how I'm going to transition. This whole triathlon thing seemed much simpler when it was so far away on the calendar. Now that its here, my head is spinning a bit. But I hear that a triathlon is very mental. And I know I can do it. I'm just trying to mentally prepare myself for the possibilities.

The other news is that I am all geared up. I've got my helmet, my supertight, superwoman triathlon shorts and shirt, which by the way, how cool is that? It was certainly a different shopping experience to try to find the tightest fitting clothing possible. I wanted to find something I could do the whole race in; swim, bike and run, and something I could get out of easily if I had to , say go to the bathroom. I opted for tri-shorts and a tri tank. And apparently, this is not the time of year to be buying such things. It was like trying to find a bathing suit for Thanksgiving. In the end, I had to go out to Richardson Bike Mart, but they had a good selection and I was able to try on about 10 different things before I found the winners. I don't think they are totally flattering (see mention of the problem areas above), but I don't look half bad, almost normal in them. And it's only going to get better. I've got all my waterbottles, Gu, race belt, goggles, bike pump, running hat and on and on.

I've been looking at some other triathlon's here locally for when I get back and I've found one 3 1/2 weeks from now that I might want to do. The boys will be out of town at the grandmas (Thank you grandmas!), it's in what is supposed to be beautiful Hill Country of Texas and its a sprint distance Xterra, which is the muddier, off road sister of the traditional triathlon. Sounds fun, so I'll keep you posted about that one.

So, wish me luck, fun and to finish. I'm almost off to my first tri ever!