Pre Pleasant Prairie

It is the night before Pleasant Prairie and I am just about ready. I am staying hydrated and getting ready for dinner. After which it will be time to ensure all my race items are put into my bag then off to bed. Earlier today, I had my hair trimmed and I went to do my last training session prior to the race. It was an easy forty-five minute bike ride followed by an easy twenty minute run. Since about Wednesday, I have been feeling something which I am not use to feeling. I have become use to feeling anxious, nervous, and scared before a staged reading, performance, or race. I guess it is a part of my preparation. Of course, prior to a triathlon, I am scared because I am facing the swim portion. Before the reading or performance of one of my theater pieces, I am worried whether I have printed out the best possible version and if audience members will experience an emotion of any kind and respond. Since earlier this week, I have felt very confident about the duathlon I will race on Sunday. I have been considering what my time goals are for the 2.5 mile opening run, 12.4 mile bike, then 3.1 mile run to close the race. It was at this very race one year ago that I found myself racing at thirty miles per hour on the bike in stretches. I was simply happy with the experience of doing my first ever duathlon that I did not even bother ever looking up my finish time. Going into this week, I started visualizing the times I wanted on each leg. To ensure an improvement over last year's race, I looked up my splits from last year. I had been telling myself that I would be happy with breaking forty minutes on the bike this Sunday. I was shocked to learn that in last year's event, I finished the bike in thirty-seven minutes and a half. So merely breaking forty minutes would be a step backwards. I can do much better! Comparing my training this year to last is like comparing night and day. I am in such tremendous shape this year. Thanks to the amazing Jenna who has been providing me guidance and a plan of attack, I am ready. If I could achieve what I did last year while training on my own without guidance then this year should be so much better. I should perform better than I even imagined at the start of this week. Of course, all conditions have to be right. The race gods must smile on me to provide the proper weather and to ensure my equipment is in fine fashion from start to finish. I just found out a couple days ago that Tom Miller, a triathlete who will attempt his first Ironman this November, will guide me for the race. I know my life will be in great hands as we race as part of the Dare2Tri Chicago team. I am excited to take on this event and improve from last year's race. I completed the race in just over 1:35:00. If I can cut two minutes from each section, I will roll to the end in under 1:30:00. In fact, with the plan Jenna has had me on during my training, I believe I can breeze through that time. I can push my body in a way it has never been pushed to achieve that which I have never. I have never been as physically and mentally prepared as I am heading into this event more confident that I have ever headed into an event. I am actually worried about how confident I am. Whether I can achieve, I will give it my best and hope I will be proud of myself for giving it all. Where normally I start with a conservative approach then attempt to build as I go along, I will do my best to get out fast and maintain throughout the entire time. I want to embrace the pain and bike or run through it!!

Best of luck to my friends who are also racing in Pleasant Prairie on Sunday as well as those competing across the country. A special shout to the fabulous Jenna at at her triathlon event in Philadelphia which is part of the Race To The Toyota Cup!!c