Freak-out time!!

T-minus 5 days.... Holy fuck I can't believe it's almost race day!!!! Sure, I've been nervous the week before races in the past. But this is intense! I feel really under-prepared and the possibility of not finishing the race is terrifying!! But there's not much I can do at this point besides hydrate and sleep as much as possible this week. And to calm my nerves a little I'm working on my checklist of things to pack. It's really long, so I'm not going to post it here, but hopefully I won't forget anything! Chris gets here Wednesday (yay!) and we leave for Sonoma Friday morning. Friday afternoon there's a lot to do: packet pick-up, time the drive from the hotel to the race start, do a quick swim in the river, check into the hotel, and go to bed as early as possible so I'm as well-rested as possible for Saturday.... 


Schedule for Saturday.
4:00 am - wake up. I like to have plenty of time to eat, drink coffee, and get ready. If I'm in a hurry I'm going to stress out way more. And I have a feeling my stress levels are going to be high enough!
6:40 am - my swim wave starts.
9:37 am - swim course closes. That means I have just under 3 hours to finish the swim or I don't get to continue. My estimated chances of finishing the swim: 95%
8:00-8:30ish - Transition 1 - start the bike portion!
5:30 pm - bike course closes. Assuming the swim takes me 1hr 50min (which is probably an over-estimate), that gives me 9 hours to finish 112 miles; ie: I have to average at least 12.4 mph. This is totally doable, but my recent failures in training on the bike course have left me dreading this portion of the race. Chances of finishing the bike: 60-70%
4:30-5:30 pm - Transition 2 - start the run portion! Based on my previous rides, I will either not complete the cycling leg of the race, or I will average about 14-15 mph and finish in 8 hours-ish.
9:00 pm - run lap 3 cut-off. I have to start lap 3 (~17.5 miles) by this time or they won't let me continue. 
11:00 pm - race course closes. If I'm not done by this time, I can't finish. Chances of finishing the run: 95%. 


As you can tell, I'm least confident about the bike portion. The swim is not going to be fun, but I know I can do it and they give us more than enough time for even the slowest swimmers to finish that distance. The run is going to suck huge after killing my legs with 112 miles of biking, but I've run several marathons (last year without even training!) so I know that if I can get to the running portion, I can finish it. But the bike..... ug. I've had several training rides cut short because my legs were exhausted and mentally I couldn't continue. I keep thinking about those times and worrying that it's going to happen again. So here's what I'll be thinking about to keep me motivated on the bike:

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.
Although in my head it's going to be "Just keep going, just keep going, just keep going, going, going"

Right now the weather forecast is saying 88 degrees and sunny with 11 mph winds. Crap. The wind on that bike course can be brutal. And the run course is in the full-on sun. So this forecast is not exactly what I'd like to see (ie, the exact opposite of ideal). Hopefully they're wrong and it will end up being a perfect day with a high of 72, no wind, and slightly overcast! :)


If you'd like to track how my race is going, here's the website. Another huge thing that will be motivating me is the fact that I've announced to the world that I'm going to do this so now I've gotta do it! I'll be imagining all the people checking on my progress and how disappointed they'll be if I don't finish. Realistically, probably only 3 people will be checking on me, but I'm going to imagine that everyone I've ever met will be watching and judging my performance. That'll keep me motivated!


Also, my fan club is super awesome and will be there to support me the whole time (or at least most of the time). Thanks in advance to Chris, Greg, and Rex for being there!!!!!  I'm really grateful to have a cheering section and someone to bring me flip-flops and chapstick at the finish! Love you guys!