Tri Season Starts Sunday

For the past 2 years I have started the season with the New England Season Opener. To be honest I don't love the race. The water is always freezing and I swear it is long. Then the bike and run courses aren't that great. You might ask why I even bother. To be honest it is just to get the rust off. I haven't done a tri since Sept of last year. I feel REALLY rusty.

It is probably a lot of taper crazy talk but I am starting to really get anxious about this race and my whole tri season. This week's taper craziness has made me  1- not want to train at all (possibly ever again) 2- eat all the candy I can get my hands on 3- second guess my whole season. I know this is all crazy talk of my taper but doesn't really help with the anxiety levels. I have started not only to get anxious about this weekend's race but to also be anxious about Quassy in a couple weeks. URGH!

So to try to shut my brain up I just keep running through things in my brain and doing calculations and making plans. When I told my coach I was freaking out she suggested to plan and prepare. So that is where I went with it. I've got a new full sleeve wetsuit to help with the freezing cold water. I plan on riding my road bike since the roads for this race are crappy and the elevation profile is a bumpy mess of 10mi. The run is no fun and hilly itself.

This race is always full of a lot of seasoned triathletes. Lets be honest not many newbies are up for a race this early and especially one that is wetsuit MANDATORY. I asked coach if I needed to come up with a race plan or if the plan was just GOOOOOOO. We decided on GOOOOO but she gave me some idea of goal pace for the bike and run. Looking at last years numbers and this years performances I think I will be good. Lets just hope it doesn't rain!

Goals:
- Reduce swim time- it is always 9 something on this course. IDK why! Its only a 400m swim?! why?! what gives?!
- Reduce transition times- FAST! MOVE its a sprint not a Half!
- Bike last year was just under 16mph. I'd like to get it to 16 or 17mph avg this year. 37min ish
- Run last year 9:38pace. This year get it 9 or under. 27min ish

Last night my ultimate goal for the race came to me while I was on the bike. I have always been afraid to push it on this course. I just worry I am going to blow up. Well this year it is push all the way. I mean it is less time racing than the last 2 races I have done. So it is all out- if I crash and burn it will make for one hell of a story! And I will learn more about my limits!

So that's it. That's the plan. I guess that helps the anxiety a bit now I am just in final preparation mode. Double and triple check the gear and weather reports! Best of luck to everyone else racing this weekend.