The Big Deal

Good morning followers-I just slept for 10 hours and am feeling rested. It has been a busy week and obviously I needed sleep. In many of the training articles I have read, they talk about how sleep is critical as your body releases certain growth hormones. It is these hormones that repair and make you strong. The elite athletes actually schedule sleep into their afternoons between workouts because of this! I however, knew I would need a good sleep for today as tonight may be a problem. That's right.........tomorrow is a very very Bid Deal for me. I will be competing in my very first Triathlon, and I am not sure how good a sleep I will get tonight!

If you had read earlier posts, I had been contemplating doing a longer triathlon distance, but after consulting with my Voice of reason and Mr. P, they both thought it would be a very bad idea. So for my first experience , I am doing a Sprint Distance which in layman's terms means
800 m swim, 20 k bike and 5 k run. Ahhhh........

The race starts early, and this means that transition opens up at 6am. This is where you rack your bike, get your race bib, body markings, swim cap, pee a million times and try like mad to calm your nerves. All the racers are then debriefed on the rules and the course is outlined. It also means that I will be getting up a 4am so that I can eat and get ready as it will take me roughly a hour to get out to Bird's Hill.

For those of you who know my struggle with food experimentation, I plan on consuming some Boost as I think if I eat solids before the swim, coupled with my nerves, I am liable to throw up in the water. I also think I will put my Bento Box on the bike and take some gels just in case I need some extra energy from the swim. All 3 times when I have gotten out of the OWS practices, I have felt really wobbly, so hopefully a little carb/sugar combo will help!

Speaking of OWS, I completed a third one on Thursday evening. I owe my Voice of Reason a big thank you as she pretty much forced me to do this swim against my will. You see I did not want to do this, as I was worried that I would have another bad experience, and that this would unnerve me for my upcoming race. My voice of reason, however, was very firm in not allowing me to get away with this bullshit (pardon the French but emphasis is required here) and basically advised me that I was never going to allow myself to get to a better place if I did not confront my fear. In essence she told me that the only person responsible for letting myself down is me-and I can choose not to beat myself up!

So in the end, I followed her advice. It wasn't as great a swim as I had with Mr and Mrs. P but it wasn't as awful and crushing as my first one. I swam roughly 1500m and it was only after I was halfway done, that I began to feel a rhythm (this is why I prefer the longer distance). I am so glad I did it, and thank you my dear dear friend-as usual you were right!

Adding just a tad to my anxiety, is a problem that has developed in the last several days. I am having some pain-in my butt! This is related to a sacreal nerve-very common for runners. So I did change my running shoes (something that everyone will tell you not to do before a race-but mine are identical to the ones I had) and booked a therapeutic massage yesterday with my friend Mrs. L. She is a wee little thing, but can make a grown man cry with the force she puts behind her tiny hands. She pounded on my butt muscle for an hour and today I am happy to report that it is feeling much better and "runable". But as a precautionary measure, I have booked her in regularly for the next month. Thank goodness for Blue Cross coverage! Gotta love Canada!

Well that is all for now folks. I must tend to my family, and try and keep my mind occupied and my breathing deep. I am also hoping for rain today so our neighborhood block party will be postponed (don't need noise to be added to the equation as sleep will suffer even more tonight). I will carry all your support with me tomorrow as I experience my very first Triathlon! Luvs ya!