I was able to get into town late on Thursday night, so I had 2 full days to get stuff done and check out the city before the race. I was amazed at how cool Madison is and how bike-friendly it is as well. there are bike lanes and racks all around downtown and the UW campus and people were actually using them! I do wonder how this all looks/works when winter hits though.
Friday morning Chris, Tony & I went to the race site to get a test swim in the lake and then to take a short bike ride before I got registered. The test swim was kind of important b/c I had never worn a wetsuit before and I needed to see how it felt and fit in the water (better to know ahead of time rather than a mile into the swim). After that, the short bike ride turned into a 2 hour tour of the city and campus, but we were going at an easy pace so no harm done. We went to the race expo to sign in and check things out and all of us started feeling the excitement of the pre-race atmosphere.
There's a huge IM store there, with all kinds of logo clothes, gear, etc. You only get a race shirt if you actually finish the race and while I was not doubting my chances of finishing, I definitely wasn't leaving there empty handed. I passed on the $60 "tech" long sleeve and settled for a $25 cotton long sleeve t-shirt.
Whit and my mom got into town by late afternoon, which was about the time we finally decided where to eat lunch. We got lured into the "endless" soup and salad deal and all ate more than we should of (except for maybe Tony, I don't know if there is an upper limit to what he can eat) and left stuffed. After a short nap at the hotel, chris and I tried to do a tempo run but both of us were having trouble moving very fast w/ still-full stomachs. So, we settled for a ez run and some push-ups and squats and stretching. That night we went back downtown to have a tasty beverage at The Great Dane, a prime local pub. I'm not gonna lie, it was a tasty local brew(but I did limit myself to 1).
Saturday I woke up w/ a nasty knot in my upper back/lower neck, I'm assuming from the result of a stiff pillow and soft mattress refusing to work together for the optimal alignment of my spine. In any case, my neck hurt and it was not comfortable. We went back to the race expo to check out more of the vendors and to look into a massage for my back. One of the vendors was Trigger Point, a company that sells massage devices that allow you to self-treat tight spots in your soleus', calves and piraformis. So, instead of paying a professional to work the pain out of me, I bought the equipment so I could bring myself to tears in the privacy of my own home...
After that we went to a few local bike shops that did not suck. Whit and I both found cool "must-have" bike T's and I even scored a $50 QR wetsuit (marked down from $300!). It's ok, "it didn't come out of the travel fund; I sold some stuff before we left..." After another long day of walking around we went back to the hotel to cook up an early dinner and I tried to relax and not think about the long day that awaited me. to be honest, I wasn't nervous about how I would do because I had taken all the pressure off myself long ago (b/c of fatigue issues preventing me from training for 5 weeks) and was taking the AR approach : race within your ability, be smart and enjoy the experience. and with that mindset, I fell asleep & got a solid 6 hours of sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment