Had a great spinning class this morning, followed by an Oly Distance peptalk/information/orientation breakfast with Coach Monster.  I had my little green notebook, in which I scribbled furious notes.

He asked me, “What is your biggest source of anxiety for this upcoming race?”

I said, “Well, I don’t really have any anxiety at this point.”

He stared at me like I spit at him. Then I realized how crazy that was.  Of course, I have anxiety. Coach Monster laughed, snatched up my book and wrote: I don’t really have any anxiety at this point.

And then he made me sign it.  I followed up that moronic comment with at least two more stupid comments, to which he grabbed my notebook again, and he wrote: “Take spatial orientation training” (after I couldn’t figure out his diagram about swimming and current) and  “Pacing…I don’t have trouble with that” (after he reminded me to pace myself properly).

Funny Sports Ecard: Practice your Transitions as if you will be tested. I mean, unless you count the race as the actual test. Oh, I guess it is.

Lo and behold.  I am a triathlon newbie.  In case you missed the memo.

Some of the best advice he gave me was to practice T1 and T2 before the race, and have a specific order of things, memorize it like a weird mantra, and repeat it back to myself as I do the steps in T1, and then in T2.

This is especially good for such a klutz like me.  Therefore, I present to you, the oh-so-official SBM transition mantras.

T1
shirt
socks
shoes
race number
helmet
sunglasses

T2
shoes
salt
visor
water

FOUR DAYS FOUR DAYS FOUR DAYYYYYYSSSSSSSSS……..

3 Responses

  1. I totally wrote a comment on this yesterday. I thought! Anyway, awesome that you are anxiety-free (allegedly, lol). You are going to do great. I wish the water for my swim was nice & warm like the water for yours, honestly. I can't wait to read that race report!

    One tip to pass on – when you are racking your bike before the race, go find the swim finish and walk from the water to your bike. Figure out how you will find your bike when you are dazed, tired, and confused coming out of the water. You can count racks, bring a balloon to tie to your rack, or even bring chalk to mark the ground where you should turn in. Nothing like losing your bike to mess you up! Then walk from your bike to bike out. Again, so you know which way to go & don't get lost and waste energy walking around. Do the same for bike in-rack-run out.

    GOOD LUCK on Sunday! What time does your wave start? I don't start until 10:30 Pacific (!!) so you will probably be done before I even put my pinky toe in the water…

  2. I am so freakin excited for you! I hope you pay attention to every little detail and then write a novel of a race report afterwards!

  3. Sara – that is SUPER advice. Thanks so much!! Good luck to you! My wave starts at 7:04am, so yes, I will definitely be done by the time you start! (Hopefully). 🙂 LOL

    Natasha – thanks!!!! I am excited!

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