I test drove Antonia with her new rear mount bottle cage (the Profile Design RM System with CO2 Mount). I love.

Starbucks holder. Yessssss.

Okay, so I probably don’t “need” the rear mount cages for a half iron except for my coffee… but here’s my thought.

Yes, water bottle exchanges will exist at the race. But. That means:
1) I either must exhibit extraordinary feats of non-Swim Bike Klutz and grab a bottle on the fly (while navigating the other riders doing the same….assuming they haven’t all passed me), or
2) Lose “valuable” time and get off the bike to exchange.  I say “valuable” time, because when I am racing against the DNF clock, time is going to be more precious than ever.

So, I got the rear mount baby, and tried it out today. I was worried that my giant rear end would hit the bottles.  But nice dude at Roswell Bikes who installed it must have sized me up.  No issues there. Super easy to use. Even for a klutz.  Uber impressed.

I started off the morning at Lifetime for the swim portion of my SBR training day. I couldn’t find anywhere to do a swim, bike, run by myself (safety reasons), so I had to pool it, then drive to the trail for ride and run.  Not an “official” faux race, but pretty darn close.

I still approached the swim like a race start, and pushed as I believe I would in the race.  I finished one mile in just at 35 minutes, so that was respectable. I drove-thru Starbucks and headed to Silver Comet.

It was kind of chilly this morning.  But I never hesitate to wear my arm warmers.  The bike ride was great.  I also wore very thin cycling shorts, as I am trying to get the Queen in race shape.  Lots of Aquaphor and I was off.

Finished 36 miles on the bike in 2:13:00. The trail was kind of quiet today – I guess with IM Augusta happening today – lots of the usuals were out there.

I transitioned to the run in about four minutes, which isn’t too poor considering I had to load the bike in the car.

The first two miles of the run, I felt ridiculously good.  Which means, I knew what was coming.  The ridiculously bad.  The “bad” never actually came.  The “hard” did…but not the bad.

Five miles in 55 minutes – close to a 5 mile run PR, and that was with a swim and bike in front of it.

Great day.  I needed a good day at the office. Here’s a self-portrait.  I had no one to take it.  Lame.  But I feel bad posting blogs without pictures. But actually, I probably feel worse about posting blogs with self-pictures.  But here it is anyway.

A triathlon friend asked me, “So are you feeling fit, confident and ready (for Miami)?”

I had to think about that.  No, no and no.  BUT, barring any tragedies or mechanicals, I believe I will finish. Times like today, I really try to stop and listen to myself and my inner cheerleader.

(In case you were wondering, my inner cheerleader has bright red hair, nice legs and big, perky boobs). Anyway.

Unfortunately, the days where I truly believe in myself and my capabilities are few and far between.  So tonight, I will ice my entire body and enjoy the feeling of capability.

Have a great week everyone.

9 Responses

  1. Way to go! Being on Team Aquaphor this year I loved the Aquaphor shout out! You are going to do great in Miami!!

  2. Whoa! Team Aquaphor! If I was any good, I would HAVE to be on that team. Between raising two kids, now triathlon, along with having dry skin… I think they should at least send me a jersey or a free tub. 🙂 LOL!

  3. GREAT faux triathlon! Love the starbucks holder 🙂 I was worried about the whole hand off thing at the water stops too. I ended up taking a water bottle at the last stop and it was really no big deal. The guy kind of shoved the bottle in my hand so it would have been hard to miss it and I was off. By the end, the race was spread out enough so that there wasn't as much congestion. At least now you don't have to stress out about that part of it!

  4. Nice job on the PR post-swim and bike! Why wouldn't you need additional bottle cages for a half Ironman? I firmly believe you can never have too much nutrition on board! 🙂 I klutz'd my way through an aid stop hand-up this past weekend at my 70.3: missed the first bottle, but got the second. Make eye contact with your v'teer and pick an adult! Poin at them! Get their attention. I yelled, "I got you!" and pointed at this guy. He said, "No, I got you!" Success!

  5. I haven't done a half iron, but I'm preeeeeety sure there's no Starbucks in T1. 😉 Great job today Mere, I'm glad you had a good day at the office. Here's to many more!

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