Tomorrow is my last Monday-morning strength training before the triathlon. As of Saturday, tapering begins. This is off of a training plan the coach sent out for team members who did a race last weekend. I had to adjust it to bit since I race next Saturday (the 26th), but I think it still did a good job. I definitely miss having a coach on Mondays; I feel like I got a much harder workout with him than I do on my own despite following his workout guide (it feels like it’s missing something, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what).

On Saturday, I did an 80-minute bike ride around my town plus a 10-minute transition run. There are a few okay hills around here, though the one road that has the BEST rolling hills is terrible for riding–poor visibility, narrow road, poorly lit in the morning/at night. The wind has kept me working, though! It’s always really nice on my way out when I get a super sweet tailwind, but once I start circling back, I really start to feel it. It’d be nice if the wind could just disappear for the triathlon, but if this past week’s wind and rain are any indication, next week will be just as rough.

The 10-minute transition run went well. It was supposed to be at “RPE = 3/4”–which means “rate of perceived exertion 3 or 4 out of a scale of 1-10 with 1 being very easy and 10 being very hard.” I’ve come to realize, though, that I have a terrible time judging what speed I’m moving after I get off my bike. Every moment feels SUPER slow. I pushed too hard and ended up doing a mile in ~10 minutes with a little to spare. I was tired and had a side cramp when I got back, but after resting for a few minutes, I actually felt pretty good. I guess my best bet is to ACTUALLY take it easy as soon as I get off the bike and let my body adjust to running instead of cycling. It’s nice that I finished my mile in under 10 minutes after a hard ride, but if I’m going to run another 2.1 after that, I would do better to ease into it and then pick it up rather than burn out. Besides, after swimming, I’m definitely going to be tired.

I also had my first experience with Gu. I didn’t want to try it out for the first time on race day and risk getting sick, so I did it on Saturday. It tasted TERRIBLE–good lord! I had the strawberry banana flavor even though I know that I don’t like banana-flavored things. Overall, I think it definitely helped; despite tasting terrible, I managed to get (and keep) it down, and it’s probably the only reason I was able to run afterwards (my transition run practices have always been terrible up till now). I bought Clif Shot Blocks as well, so I’m going to test them out on my Wednesday ride/run. I’ve had them before on my bike, so I don’t think they’ll be a problem for cycling, but I’m wondering how my stomach will feel if I try running with them there.

I’m definitely getting nervous and excited–probably an equal mix of both. I keep dreaming about triathlons. In the last tri dream, I had an excellent swim, but the bike ride was inside a building, and you had to get off your bike and go behind a curtain at one point, but someone had taken down the green flag that marked the curtain spot before I got there and I was pissed. The run was an eating contest–something involving mashed potatoes and sausage. I was so angry and planned to complain to the triathlon organizers for giving me such a poor first triathlon experience.

Compared to that dream, the real race will be a piece of cake, right?