The wait is almost over...

The New England Season Opener is less than 2 days away. I think we're almost ready for it to be that close. We've been doing some easy workouts, trying to make sure we keep progressing, but not overdoing it. Last thing I want is an injury right before race day with no time to recover. I've been lucky thus far in that regard, so knock on wood, fingers crossed, etc.

Last night I did 2 miles at what I'm hoping is race pace. Average was about 13:05/mi, and I alternated at 3 mins running and 3 minutes walking. I did the last minute of each mile walking so I was more rested to start the next mile. This was really exciting, because it gives me a good indication that I can finish really close to my 5k goal. Of course there's still the matter that this will come after the swim and the bike, but that's no big deal, right?

I'm going to get this out right now: I'm nervous. Yes, this is my second season. Yes, I've done similar races with longer distances in both the swim and bike. Yes, I've done more preparation and am farther along in my training this year than at any point in my almost 3 years of competitive events.

But this is the first race with Rach. On top of making sure I am ready, I need to help make sure her race is as smooth as possible. And then there are my allergies, making it tough to breathe. Im not going to use that as an excuse, but it's definitely weird to have that affecting how well I ride, etc. Plus there's that "new race" nervousness. Any race I've never done before has an extra level of nervousness attached to it.

And then there's the weather conditions. We already knew the water would be cold, but hoped the warm weather we've been having would make the rest of the race easier. According to weather.com, the temperature at race time will be between 44 and 49. And Windy. (Weather.com had it in italics so I figured I should too). I've done a race in those conditions before, but to say it was the most enjoyable environs would be a lie.

To ease some concerns, we're driving out to Hopkinton tomorrow in order to get our race packets, and explore the bike and run courses. There's a bike course video that we'll watch tonight, and hopefully that will help with the nerves. In the last race of last season, the nerves didn't stop until I got in the water, and then they disappeared right until I broke a spoke with a mile and a half left. Thankfully the wheel held, and has now been replaced with something much stronger.

Ok, enough of my whining, time to start getting focused on getting everything ready for Sunday.

Notes:

- Talk about burying the lead: I heard back today from the CBJ PR department that my interview with Tyler Wright regarding his Ironman on behalf of Hats for Heroes is a go. I should be receiving a call from Tyler sometime today. The interview will run basically as soon as it's completed, likely sometime early tomorrow. My first official interview for the site. Color me excited.

- I learned something last night. I was reading Chrissie Wellington's web site, and found her recap of Timberman 2009. As almost everyone else, she had terrific things to say. However, one thing she said  added to my nerves "I took the bike out for a 3 hour spin on Thursday and was quickly reminded that the Timberman bike course is in fact rather hilly." As we've discussed before, hills and fat guys don't generally mix. Chrissie Wellington is no fat guy (nor any other type of guy for that matter). On top of that, she's basically the best female triathlon cyclist on the planet. So if she says the course is rather hilly.... well, I'm screwed. I better go make sure the training plan has some hill work in it.


- May is national bike month, and I plan on adding some minor comments throughout the month on this topic