This past week had been a bit of a 'taper' week as I head into my last race before the big one.. I'm heading back to Steelhead to try to come in a little faster than my last yrs finish time of about 5:35 (which I was super happy with..for the moment..but then pretty quickly I started thinking.. why couldn't I have come in under 5:30??..so here I am..) I had a good week of training.. Nice swim on monday; a track workout on tuesday; decent ride on wed; another swim and run on thurs.. then a mini warm-up on sat of a quick bike check & 'shake out' run before we head out on the road to gorgeous Benton Harbor, MI! We hit the expo & were in & out pretty quick.. head over to the beach for a quick swim & to try out my new wetsuit! (I know, I know..'nothing new on race day' is the mantra said over & over to us..but when it's not your 'A' race, you kinda relax some of those things.. I also had a new tri suit, a new water bottle holder.. I think that was it) The water felt awesome..just as I remembered it from last yr! The current is amazing, nice cool waters after slogging around in the near-90 degree lakes for the past month.. I was psyched! We listened to a bit of the pre-race talk & there was mention of some riptide warnings & lake issues in the area..but I wasn't concerned.. As usual, I'm overly optimistic until the absolute last minute.. So we head back to the hotel for a bit of a rough afternoon.. My 'team Blunck' was falling apart a bit, as 3 yr olds will do from time to time.. You see, when my little guy doesn't nap, he can be a little difficult.. SO, since we got to the hotel mid-afternoon.. Mason wasn't into napping right then, so by the time we were planning on heading to dinner..he was a mess & frankly, we weren't ready to take him out in public! So I settled for a bagel w/ pb, banana, & choc milk for dinner.. which was fine.. I like that meal, it's a stable meal for my tummy.. Only bummer was that I'd be eating the same thing again for breakfast the next day, but 'oh, well'.. So we actually got to bed plenty early that night..so all was fine & dandy. I woke up & got ready..Team Blunck was out the door on time.. weather was looking sunny & 75 w/ NO storms for the day..looking like a great day to race! I got to the transition area around 4:45-ish & the 1st thing I hear over the loud speaker was that the waves are too big to get safety craft out there & riptide risk is too high...so the swim is cancelled... WHAT??!! no way... They're kidding, right?? Nope. No joke. I gotta say... I was bummed. For those that know me, I LOVE this swim.. I enjoy swimming, in general, these days.. But I REALLY love THIS swim...it's nice water, awesome current..it's just a really great swim, so I was bummed to hear we wouldn't get to start the day w/ it. To be honest.. I was kinda at a loss as to what to do. I felt like I didn't know what to do w/ myself.. All that time, & not really anything to do! No need to set things up in transition, really, b/c we're just going to start on the bike.. Ugh. Anyway. I tried to shake the blues... but if I'm being honest.. I never quite got my head in the game. I never quite felt like it was a race & not just another brick workout.. I felt good on the bike & had a good split.. came in w/ an over 20mph avg, which is good for me for that distance.. But again, if I'm being honest.. I didn't push myself like I had planned to & I know I could have been at least a couple minutes faster.. BUT..oh, well.. as far as IM training, I did my thing.. kept up a good pace & felt strong & comfortable the whole way.. I did fine. So off on the run.. Again.. I felt fine for most of the run. I had to make 1, uh, pitstop..but nothing big..no stomach issues.. Got a bit of a side stitch after that & that lasted for about a mile or so.. but as per usual for me these days..the longer I ran, the better I felt. My splits were about 9:20 min miles the whole 13.1 miles..which is respectable for me.. Again, though.. didn't push myself hard..nothing fancy..just a good, steady race for me. As for IM prep..it was great. I feel VERY ready, focused, confident.. ready to DO this thing.. As for an impressive 1/2 IM..not so much.. Not bad, but I know it wasn't my best. It was still fun & I'd still say I learned things from it & gained things from it.. so not all was lost. I fancy myself a pretty adaptable gal when it comes to these races (I know I saw at least 1 gal in frantic tears over the change & more than a few really thrown off folks after the announcement)..and I adapted fine.. I just never really got in to full-on 'race' mode for this one, but we all have our moments when we're 'on' & when we're not so much.. Guess I'm saving it all for the big one! So we have 1 more pretty big training wk/weekend & then we taper?! Yikes...tapers are tough for me.. but I plan to take this as seriously as any other part of the training b/c it IS a big part of how enjoyable a big race like this can be.. So bring it on!!
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