Three Days to Go!

Just three days to go till race day.  Hard to believe its here and the race is that close.  I was talking to another club member yesterday after our swim.  He reminded me of my first open water swim in the ocean in Barrington much earlier in the summer.  I had to that point only been swimming in the calm pond waters of Georgiaville and I knew I had better get used to swimming in the ocean before the Barrington Sprint and what was at that point a dream of doing a half ironman length race sometime in 2011.  The water that day was a little bit choppy but it felt so much worse to me as I had zero experience swimming in chop.  I fought my way through a half mile swim and was exhuasted and frustrated.  At the end of that day somebody mentioned something to me about the FIRM 1/2 Ironman in September.  I can remember thinking how crazy a thought that was as much as I wanted it.  I hadn't even completed a sprint at that point.  And now here we are, three days to race day.  Who would have thought?  Ok...  I'll be honest with myself.  My goal from the day I bought a bike and stepped into the pool was to complete an ironman length race.  I always said my plan was to race sprints all summer, then do halves in 2011, and a full in 2012.  And now here I am at the end of the 2010 season about to complete my first half.  I feel really ready for it though and noone can question that I haven't put the the time and training in. 

This morning I got up early and headed over to the bike path to get my planned 45 minute ride in with 5x30 second sprints in it.  Nothing too strenuous.  It was cold this morning.  Somewhere around the same temp it looks like its going to be on raceday.  Those first few miles on the bike are going to be chilly, even with arm warmers on.  My ride was pretty uneventfull.  It was the usual early morning bike path crowd.  A few walkers, a few casual cyclists, and one triathlete and one hardcore roadie out for their workouts.  Otherwise it was nicely empty.  I just focused on getting into a good groove.  I mostly played with gearing and cadence on the flats a little bit on the way out, got my sprints in on the way back and then had a nice easy spin back to the car.  When I got off the bike my right calf was really tight.  In fact it has me somewhat concerned now.  It was sore after my massage the other day and ever since it cramped up hard but briefly in the swim yesterday its been bothering me.  I've been stretching, rolling, taking ibu and wearing compression gear but it doesn't seem to be doing much.  I may have to go back to get another massage on it if it doesn't improve quickly.  We'll see though.  It certainly has me worried.  I can feel it just sitting here at the computer. 

The rest of today has been challenging to get through.  Work is reaching a stressfull peak at exactly the time I wish it wouldn't when I want to be focusing on the race and not on work.  But starting at 5pm tomorrow the rest of the world will dissapear and its going to be all about race focus...   well mostly anyway.  Theres certainly some fun social things between now and then as well including a nice get together with other club members on Saturday afternoon to eat a few carbs and share in our nervousness.  Should be good fun.