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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The mare in the night

This past weekend I spent quite some time looking over the Cleveland Triathlon's website, including the course map and photos from last year. Probably - nay, definitely - a bad idea. I like to race in blissful ignorance. Not to say I'm not prepared - I always have a race plan - but not knowing what's ahead allows me to race at my best. I didn't like knowing what the sets were going to be in swim practice; I don't like mapping a course out for myself for my long rides or runs. I can always deal with what comes as it comes.

I am a bit nervous already for the race. Maybe because I've never done transitions before, never swum in Lake Erie before, and never rode with so many cyclists on the same road before. Knowing the course, seeing the pictures didn't help. I've started having pseudo-nightmares about the race. A remarkably realistic dream on Sunday night involved me missing my heat by 10 minutes. Another involved my bike being stolen out of the transition area (weirdly, it was indoors and it was storming during the race). I have never dreamt about a race before. Even in the 13 years of competitive swimming, even knowing I had a tough race ahead of me (like swimming the 1650 for the first time), it never happened. I guess I always felt prepared enough. Having a coach and a race plan and a team help. Here I'm on my own.

2 comments:

  1. First of all, it's called a wave, not a heat. :) This ain't swimming. Second of all, for your first tri, you should be racing in blissful ignorance. You are there to FINISH and HAVE FUN, first and foremost. Train like you have been and you'll be super prepared and go and enjoy yourself!

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  2. Good luck!

    I, on the other hand, like to know where I'm going and what I'm doing. When I did tris, the biking got me because I was just riding (and bored) and had no idea how far I had ridden or where I was or how far I had gone so I didn't know how to pace (haha, that implies I actually tried on the biking part, which is false). I like to mentally prepare.

    Oh, this is Becca, by the way.

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