Bound for the Olympics

Ahhh….fooled you right?  You thought I had somehow catapulted my slow self to Olympic competitor, but alas no.  What I meant to say is that I am bound for the Olympic Distance Triathlon this weekend.

For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, you know I was supposed to do my first Olympic Distance Tri last Sept, and just a few days before the event I severely injured my shoulder and was unable to compete.  It devastated me, and I kind of promised myself I would never be quite that “vested” in a race again. 

So, maybe that’s why I haven’t made a big deal about this race.  It’s just kind of quietly snuck up on me.  It will still be my first Olympic tri, and it will also be my first ever wetsuit race so it should kind of be a big deal, but I’m really looking at it as more of a training race for my 70.3 in July than anything.  It’s my check point to see where I’m at – it’s my deciding point to see if I officially sign up for the Racine 70.3.

I won’t lie.  I don’t feel ready for the swim – AT ALL.  I am terribly nervous about that part.  My shoulder has still not healed (and I’m not sure it ever will without surgery).  I have had to baby it a lot during my training.  If I swim one day, and it hurts I may go 5 or 6 or 7 days before I swim again.  I have only been swimming 2 days a week max, and many times only 1, when my plan calls for 3xs per week and starting last week I’m supposed to be swimming 4xs per week.  My longest swim in the pool has been 1800 yards and that includes drills and breaks.  My swim Sunday is 1700 yards or 1 mile.  It is not going to be easy.  I am terribly afraid my shoulder will give out during the swim or hurt so bad afterward that I’m not able to swim for weeks.  All I know is that if I manage to make it through this on Sunday, my swim needs to be my focus for the remainder of my 70.3 training.

I feel ready for the bike and run.  I’ve have been putting in 100+ miles a week on the bike and I’ve completed 3 half marathons in the past 3 months.  But, I’ve never put this kind of bike/run distance together before so who knows what might really happen.  I’m hoping once I get out of that water though, that I’m feeling ready to go.

I expect the race to take me just under 4 hours (assuming that I make it out of the swim in around 45-50 minutes – which who knows).  I am excited, but also nervous.  I’m just not 100% sure what to expect.  Going into Hyvee last September, I felt pretty confident.  I knew I had trained exactly how I should for the distance, but I can’t say the same for this race.  The weather is going to be a little on the hot side approaching the mid 80s by the time I’m done. 

But at the end of the day, I love to do tris and I am excited about my first race of the season.  All of my Racine training buddies are racing either the Sprint or the Olympic Distance, so it will fun for all of us to be at a race together. 

It’s going to be a busy weekend though, as my step-daughter gets married on Friday and the race is on Sunday.  I really do like to overbook myself.

Stay tuned for results……………………………………………