Scattered

5 days to go to my first tri of the season, so forgive me if my thoughts are scattered. I'm a mixture of nervous and excited, and trying to keep the freak out to a minimum.

The nervous:
1. Since the half marathon a few weeks ago I've kind of slacked a little on my training. On my running because my left foot hurt for 2 weeks following the race so I decreased my run distance, plus because I injured my watch before the race, it's been harder to pace and impossible to monitor HR zones. And naturally because I'm not sticking with the program, it makes me nervous as to whether I can bring it on race day.
This is most true of the bike. The longest outdoor rides I've done lately have been to TSNY and back. Those really don't count in the face of a 25 mile ride.
The one thing I'm not too worried about is the swim. We did 2 thirty minute sets on Sunday and they were easy at cruise speed, so I know the distance won't be a problem.
2. Challenges getting my bike down there. I was on the shelf as to how I'd get my bike down to Miami. Last time I went down there, I used ShipBikes and shipped it with FedEx. It got there and back with plenty of time to spare, and that was certainly the cheapest option. So this time I was pretty sure I'd use them as well. Then a few weeks ago I got to thinking that it would be nice to use the Terrier trailer instead. With the group discount, the price was comparable to the shipping without any nervousness about whether it would get there. So I went online and bought a slot, thinking how lucky I was that there were still some available. Turns out there weren't any after all. The trailer had filled up long ago. Darn. Back to the shipping option. Then yesterday, very lady minute, I decided to call Toga Bikes. According to the event website they send bikes down with a trailer as well. As they are currently my go-to bike store, I thought that would be perfect. Well, it's too bad I hadn't thought of it last week. The guy on the phone informed me that their trailer was gone already. So indeed, it was back to the shipping option, because there was no way I was taking the bike on the plane with me.
Maybe I should have placed the pick up request on Sunday, so that they'd show up Monday for the bike. Instead, I placed it Monday, and they were scheduled to come between 8 and 6 on Tuesday. I set up the box on Tuesday morning, skipping my run in case they showed up early in the day. The box was easy to set up this time around, and I didn't have to break down the bike too much- just front wheel, loosen handle bars and take off the seat. The box was sealed by 8:15 AM. By 4 they still hadn't showed, so I called to make sure we were still confirmed. I came back from taking Den to violin at 6, and they still weren't there. Another phone call told me they'd be by before 7. Fast forward an hour, same deal. They said they'd be by before 8. Well, I couldn't stick around to find out. I had swim. So off I went, freaking out all the while, and was very relieved that the box was gone when I got home. Of course, until I know that the bike has arrived, I won't rest easy, but I'm glad ghat I have the option of taking my tri bike on the plane, worst case scenario.

What's that, you say? Did you say tri bike? Why, yes I did. A lovely, new-to-me 2009 P2C Cervelo. I had it fitted last week by Will at Toga Bikes, but haven't done any quality riding on it, so decided, after having to resist the overwhelming urge to race on my new toy, and respecting the opinion of my 12-year old who also thought it was a stupid idea, to save it for the next race.

2. Battling what now seems to be a cold turned into allergies. The last thing I wanted or needed was to be ill on race day. So lots of ColdFX, ImmuneSupport, ginger, garlic and lemon. Oh, and threw in the Singulair a couple of days ago, which really seemed to help. I'm still sniffling and sneezing, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was.

3. First triathlon of the season. Need I say more? Add to that the fact that last year I signed up for this race, and because of my freak out over an extreme lack of training, ended up bailing on. If it wasn't for Nate encouraging me to do the NYRR sprint in July last year, the 2010 Nautica South Beach would very likely have marked the DNS and end of my triathlete experience. Thank goodness for Nate!

And excited:

1. First triathlon of the season. Need I say more? Add to that the desire to vindicate myself after last year's disaster. It's also an exciting way to see where I am and what I should aim for as Nautica takes on NYC in August.

2. The swim. I'm so excited to do an ocean swim! Though in very inexperienced at them, I've enjoyed the few I've done. Add the Terrier practice swim the day before will give me a chance to familiarize myself with swimming in a wetsuit, which is a new experience for me, and more importantly, in taking it off quickly.


And as for trapeze... No I haven't quit flying. Heaven forbid. Not much to say because there hasn't been much progress. (get ready for the whine). Here's the thing. For this workshop, I set the bar pretty low for myself. Catch the splits out of lines and throw the layout out of lines. Well, as yet I haven't accomplished either goal. Even though I've thrown the split with half tuen hundreds of times to the net/mat, for some reason I can't do it now. And while my layout is apparently getting better and better, it's still not ready to go out. How is it that with the bag set so damned low I'm still not hitting the challenges? Grumble, grumble. I still love it. Though I should probably take a class or two without focussing on those goals, and just throw some crazy stuff.