Selfishly ignoring an unfortunate series of events.

Holy crap, six days people.  This time Sunday, I’ll be racing.  It’s getting real.

We’re going to have to talk about this sub-50 degree bike riding thing.  I may need a bike parka and facemask.  Or to HTFU a little…

First of all, let’s address the unfortunate series of events this weekend.  Zliten + Benadryl + something slippery on the bathroom floor = a fall that definitely injured and maybe hairline fractured a rib.  We have to go with that diagnosis since the doctor at the emergency care clinic yesterday (and the radiologist today) didn’t actually see a crack anywhere on the x-ray, but that doesn’t make it any less painful.  He’s still not completely writing off starting the race, he’ll try just a little run/bike/swim later in the week and see if he can tolerate it, and if so, he’ll start.  But, it’s definitely not the start to race week that we were hoping for.

At this point, I need to get a bit selfish.  Obviously I’m going to take care of Zliten, but I need to get my mind out of the place where I’m moping for him.  He was feeling super fit and was looking primed to have a great race, now he’s playing the DNS/DNF/or just finish game.  I need to remember that *I* did not crack my ribs, I am (so far) just fine.  By the middle of this week, I need my head on straight and psyching myself up to rock this race.

Last week’s training went fairly well.  I hit a little under 6 hours due to a flat on the bike – I planned for just enough time to hit my workout, not to spend 15 minutes changing a tire.  The good news is that I got practice changing my tire, and if the law of averages works out, having one 8 days out means I won’t flat at the race.  Hopefully.  It did shake me up a little, because I am very clumsy with that sort of thing, but I think I may be able to manage it even if SAG doesn’t come help me.

Besides feeling nervous about my new bike, flat tires, and the rough parts of the Austin 70.3 course, I feel pretty calm and powerful about everything else.  I surprised myself with a pretty great race pace OWS last week.  My run fitness seems to be on point.  Overall, I feel pretty fit, sturdy, and rested.  My head is on straight, I think (minus the Zliten rib thing)

Last week:

• 2250m wetsuit OWS at race pace.
• Endurance Cycle – lots of little hills (75 mins)
• 1200m swim with faster bits and BSS recovery ride
• 5 mile run w/3 at race pace
• 1 hour 27 minute TT ride with pickups + 5 mile run with pickups 4 mile race pace run

Riding bikes at night all lit up and blinky with the BSS crew.

This week:

The days may be a little out of order but here’s what I’d like to do this week to keep my legs snappy.  The bolded ones are important, the others are totally optional if I’m feeling fidgety.

• 2250m wetsuit OWS at race pace, if this is later in the week, maybe closer to 1500m race pace.  Hopefully tomorrow though…
• Little brick – 20 mins on the TT on the trainer, 2 mile race pace run.  This is probably perfect for Zliten to decide whether he can race, so we’ll save this one for Wed/Thurs.
• 3 mile shakeout run with pickups.
• Easy trainer with spinups OR a commute.
• 750m wetsuit swim the morning before the race.

Let’s talk about this though…

Guys… guys… guyyyyyys.  It’s (going to be) the second to last day of October.  We are 2 degrees off the record high of 90 that day.  My race starts at 8:15, so I expect I’ll be starting the run just after noon, in the feels-like upper 80s, and it will just get worse from there.  I’m going to need to remember I trained in this, and while I was hoping for a cool day to make the run faster for me, I’ll just have to brute force it with salt pills, lots of hydration, and force of will.  My best 70.3 run thus far was also on a hot day, so I just need to keep with it.

I’ll probably be back later this week to word-vomit a little more about race prep and squishy feelings and all that, but for now, I’m just going to get with my Monday and try to enact a bubble around myself this week and keep myself as calm as possible.  I can give a shit about things next week.  Not this week.