Swimming in Estrogen

(Because I am always forgetting too late.....Thank you to everyone for the Anniversary wishes!! Most appreciated!)

Crap. I've been monitoring the water temps at Sandy Hook, NJ for my race on Sunday and they are dropping faster than a teenage boy's pants on prom night. I really didn't want to wear a wetsuit, but it looks like I might have to anyway. The temp has been almost a full degree everyday which means it should be about 69˚F by Sunday. I will still wear my lovely race suit so you can all have a good laugh at my expense.

I've been pretty lame on the bike this week. I only rode it to PT and back yesterday for a grand total of 6.5 miles. I was going to ride this morning, but I was too tired. Clearly I am a very motivated individual. I'll try something this afternoon and a swim tomorrow morning. Key word being "try".

My race on Sunday is the estrogen fest, Danskin. It will be my first all female race, not that it matters much. My AG is 40-44 (my masthead does not lie) and there are 486 women in my AG alone!! That is huge! My only concern is the swim start.

I may need one of these for the swim start.

Up to this point all my swim starts have been "in water" starts. This is a run your ass off from the beach, into the gauntlet and try not to get knocked out start with 485 other women. I don't even know how to strategize this, where to place myself at the start (I am decidedly a middle of the pack swimmer). Gah! Oh well, as I've said before, I am not going to over think this. I am just going to go and do it.

I do have a little change of plan on the bike from my last sprint tri. I managed a 19.2 MPH avg on the bike in that race back in June. However, I worked pretty hard in probably a lower gear than I should have, so my legs were fried when the run came. Granted I have improved since then, but I am going to make sure I still have some legs off the bike. I'd rather up the cadence in a little easier gear rather than grind away in a lower one. We shall see.

I really have not had any fun yet doing a race. This will be my third tri ever. My first was terrifying and I went out too hard on the bike so my run sucked. I threw my back out the day before my Oly in July and did it anyway in mucho amounts of pain (Hell, I am still in PT for it- and my hip, ain't getting old fabulous?!). I really want to enjoy this race, barring any unforeseen crap that may rear it's ugly head in or near race day.

On a lighter note, dinner with hubby for our anniversary was good; tapas and a nice bottle of wine. It was nice to get dressed up, as I live in dri-fit all day, every day. It also didn't hurt that the owner/manager (?) was hitting on me. My husband was like, "Am I here? Does he not see me?" For an old gal like me, I'll take it. Hmmmm...all this training must be paying off.