Back at it!

After being sick and not able to train for over two weeks during the holidays, I'm just starting to transition back to where I was before. It was hard to not workout and for some it may have driven them nuts but I really didn't get frustrated because it was something I could not control. I've been feeling pretty good over these two weeks but can tell I'm a little behind. I'm not worried, the big race is still eight months away.

I've looked up a few swim meets to compete in and I'm excited to race, especially knowing I won't have to bike and run after! I'm already really nervous and the first one is not until the end of February. I know I'll do fine but it's a whole new world for me.  I was talking to my coach today about registering, it's only $20 compared to $70-$100 for Tris. I told him to completely change my training plan and that I'm only go to swim it's much cheaper! He had a good laugh and was probably thinking it would be easier to coach one sport instead of three.

Gina and I had dinner at the AMC last night. We got to talking with the folks at our table about London and where I train. One women couldn't believe I swim in a 40ft pool I told here it's all we've got up here.  It doesn't bother me; one because I don't know any different and two I just get in the pool and swim. I'm improving my technique every class and I'm getting stronger and faster so that's all that matters. The swim meets are held in Olympic size pools, the length is 50 meters, about 164 feet. I'm going to need binoculars to see the other end!

This morning we did some medley races; Butterfly, Backstroke, Breathstroke and Freestyle. It was fun to use different techniques and the most challenging part were the turns, switching from my stomach to my back and then to stomach again. It was hard to focus on the technique knowing making the turn was so crucial but I got better by the third race.

Team Skidmore will be meeting soon to discuss fundraising and 2013 sponsorship. And I just received an email from Team USA regarding registration, travel packages and uniforms!

Hello Team USA athletes!
We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a happy and healthy new year! The Team USA Department is back in full gear and working on what will be an exciting 2013 season. Congratulations to everyone who is new to Team USA and welcome back to our seasoned veterans. We look forward to a very successful year!
We are forging ahead with planning for the 2013 World Championship season and we hope many of you are too. Details are starting to come in for our 2013 World Championship events.......

30 days in less than 500 words

Well it's been about a month since I last posted. I could write five pages but I will just sum it up briefly. I will be dedicated to Blog at least every other week if not every week.

Leah and I found a place, we move in this weekend! 18 people applied for the apartment and they chose us. Just about everything is included even the heat!! I'll post pictures soon It is a great place on a quiet road and minutes to the Aquatic Center, where I am swimming three times a week; taking masters classes Monday and Wednesday and a one on one on Friday with my coach, Steve.

Training is going really well and I'm seeing great improvements all thanks to Steve giving me a very detailed training schedule every week! After my field tests three weeks ago my training zones have increased and I'm becoming more comfortable spinning indoors in the trainer. My swimming has improved since I joined the Aquatic Center last month. In October 100m took me a minute and 45 seconds. Wednesday I swam 100m in 1:23! I love the classes, every one is different and Maury has so many tools: Fins, pull bouys, snorkels, paddles, kickboards, etc and a VASA Ergometer. These all allow us to focus on the many aspects of swimming one drill at a time.
One cycling technique Steve has me working on spinning at higher cadence. When I first started using the Power Tap, which measures cadence, wattage and whole lot more, I was spinning at around 85, now I'm comfortable at 95. Spinning at a higher cadence is a more efficient use of your strength and energy vs mashing the higher gears. This is a spin workout I had last week:  

A 15min warmup spinning at 90-95 cadence then 6 x 2 min Fast Pedal (ramp up cadence to spin 120+ last min)/2 min easy recovery (cadence can be slow at first, but recover it to 90+ for the rest of the 2 min) followed by a 15 min warmdown spinning at 95-100 cadence.

It was a challenging spin to up at 120+ but I liked it and now spinning at 95 is much easier.

To wrap up my 2012 racing season I thanked all my sponsors by hand delivering a thank you letter with plans for the next year along with a photo of myself thanking the business for their support. It felt great to show them how I did this summer and most couldn't wait to support me again.

I can't wait to sit down with Team Skidmore after the holidays to plan for fundraising for London. Ideas are welcome! Just leave a comment below or email me at megskidmore@gmail.com

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! 

And the Training Continues!

Well my 2012 triathlon season is over. I still can't believe I'm going to compete at the World Triathlon Championships in London!

Now time to focus on maintaining and building my fitness over the winter months. My coach gave me a little time off after Pine Pitch but now I'm right back into it. Last week started the preparation period which will last 8 weeks with a field test in the middle at 4 weeks. These two weeks consist of two workouts a day; swimming in the morning, like early, like I'm in the water at 5:30am and run or bike after work and bricks (bike to run) on the weekend.  Let me pause here and fill you in on life .....

For the past few years I've been living in two places; summer cottage at work with views of the Presidential Range, Great Glen Trails biking and running system in my front yard and not having to drive to work. In the winter it's been a cute little place w/ a garage, views of the other side of the Presidentials, very low rent with heat included. Unfortunately Randolph has been rented to another tenant and the summer has ended and I have not found a place for the winter. I was a little busy qualifying for Worlds ;). Luckily I fell into a house sitting job for the month of October. Also very lucky I met a great girl Leah who was living in Littleton and working locally which gave her a very long commute. I invited her to house sit with me to lessen her commute and to give her a chance to look at apartments in the area.  Well we've become pretty good friends and now we are tag teaming apartment viewings! So my days are usually early morning swim workouts, work, look at apartments then train for an or two, eat, sleep..... repeat. Can't wait until we are settled.

Back to training, I found a great deal on a Power Tap and have been training with it. It measures cadence, wattage, HR, torque, speed, distance and all the goodies that a regular computer has. My workouts have been very specific using this device and very different than "just" riding for an hour or climbing hills with my heart rate in different zones.
Example workout: 1 hour EM(Endurance Miles heart rate between 110-156) Warm up 10 min EM then 5 mins at MT (muscle tension building specific strength) I have to be in the hardest gear and not stand up. Cadence between 50-55 keeping wattage steady. Repeat that five times with 5 min recovery (easy spin). Keeping the wattage steady is very hard. It means each pedal stoke is done with the exact amount of pressure EACH time the crank goes around. After I'm done I can download all the data and see how smooth each interval is. The chart below shows my second time doing the above workout. The tops of the yellow lines should not be as varied. That's what training is all about learning new things and I can't wait to compare this chart to a future one.

I've also joined a Masters Swim class taught by Maury McKinney. See one of his many accomplishments here

He has advocated and raised money to have an aquatic center built in North Conway. For now he is teaching all types of swim classes at the White Mountain Aquatic Center from the New England Inn pool. The pool is 40 ft long by 20 ft wide with 3 lanes, but it's beautiful!

Before joining Maury's swim class, I have done most of my swim workouts alone. Now my coach is swimming with me 3 mornings a week and I'm in a class! Swimming is much more exciting and I'm not the fastest in the class which gives me more incentive to swim harder. I can't wait to see how much I progress through the winter. I'm also planning to compete in a few swim meets which will keep me fresh swimming at race pace.

I cannot thank my coach, Steve Vosburgh enough for all his time in planning my weekly workouts and the time he's taken to meet with me for anything; field tests, issues with downloading data, fitting me to my bike, installing my Power Tap. I could not ask for a better coach!

Pitch Pine Challenge

A 1/2 mile into the three mile run I see her, the only women ahead of me that started in my wave. She's got long hair and has turned to look back a few times, which is a no no in my book. I never look back, it messes with my focus and form. I felt strong and light on my feet, she looked tired. My pace was a little bit faster than hers but I didn't want to overtake her too soon, not knowing what she had left. That's not to say I slowed down, I think she knew I was coming and kept trying to widen the gap.

I felt like a fisherman reeling in a huge fish; slow and steady focusing on small increments of time and distance. At the turn around I knew I was going to pass her, but knowing when to is like pulling the rod too soon, you don't want to loose the fish. Mentally it was challenging, she was racing for a club and had tons of support on the course, me-I've got myself out there. With about 3/4 of a mile left I landed the fish. As I passed her she was breathing a lot heavier than me and that gave me all I needed; she didn't have it in her. One of her teammates yelled from behind the both of us "Don't let her get away, stay with her" As the sound of her footsteps faded, I knew she wouldn't be able to catch me. I never looked back I just kept running a little bit faster. As I broke out of the woods I could see the finish line and heard my name announced, I found a little more in me and finished almost loosing my breakfast. I was the first female to cross the finish line! That felt so awesome!

Last year I raced this course in 1:17:35 this year I took 5 minutes off, finishing in 1:12:48, 3rd female overall and 1st in my age group. The forecast was sunny and 70, well they were wrong. At the start of the race it was misting making for a chilly warm up. The water wasn't too bad, glad I wore my wetsuit though.  The transition area at this race is in a gravel parking lot, not ideal, especially for me- I cannot stand sand on my feet, in my shoes or anywhere else on me. It drives me nuts. If I go swimming I need to dry my feet off at the shore, put dry shoes on and walk ever so cautiously to the car making sure not a single grain of sand gets in my shoe. Back to the race...

Gina, Tami and I headed down to camp at the venue-White Lakes State Park the night before. Picked up my race packet and drove the course. Although I raced last year I needed to see it again. It's pretty flat, 90% smooth pavement with a gradual five tier hill. Cleaned and checked over my bike, which my brother named Turbo! Thanks Aust, I love it!

Chicken and veggies for pre race dinner, a camp fire and in bed by 9. Oh and painted my nails bright green. The only time I wear nail polish is for a race, a tradition I started this summer.

We didn't have far to walk to the transition area so I didn't have to get up super early, which gives me less time to be nervous.  I had a banana and an egg, cheese and tomato sandwich for breakfast. On the way over, it started to mist adding to the chilly temps. I racked my bike and set up, got my body marked which is usually done by volunteers. This time the race director was headed in my direction with a marker. I felt pretty special and it was nice to know he was interacting with the racers.

I had about 20 minutes for a warm up. Usually it's just an easy jog and easy ride. After training this summer with my coach, Steve has taught me how to warm up properly. I always conserved on my warm up making sure I saved some for the actual race. Steve explained during one of my field tests that it's better to give hard efforts to "prime" the system. This time I made sure I put in a good warm up, especially because it was cold and rainy. I ran for 10 minutes and didn't have time to ride but got my wetsuit on and did about 10 minutes in the water. After the National Anthem played we still had about 10 minutes to start. Being wet and cold is not the best way to start a race. I made sure I stayed warm by doing calisthenics. 

There were about 30 racers in my wave. My goal was to focus on drafting and when the horn sounded, I stayed with a guy for about 30 seconds, then he was gone. I can't wait to work on getting faster in the water during the off season.
I have been trying different breathing techniques and I think during this race I nailed it. Prior to the race I was breathing bilaterally, once on each side, this meant holding my breath for a longer period of time. Then I tried five on right then five on left and that was a little better. The week leading up to the race I tried breathing on the right side and it felt much better, my heart rate wasn't through the sky and I could really focus on technique. I took two minutes off my swim time this year!

Because it was chilly I debated riding with a jersey vs. just my tri suit, this would mean swimming with it under my wetsuit because I wasn't going to try to put it on after being wet during T1.  I went back and forth and decided to leave it in my bag. I could have used another layer on my legs, they felt like icebergs for the majority of the ride, it was uncomfortable but I was used to it. I've been out training on some chilly mornings leading up to the race, so I knew the feeling all to well.

I was 6th female out of the water in my wave. I passed a few girls and guys on the bike and was passed by some as well. One girl passed me, I saw her age, she was in my age group. I tried to stay with her but couldn't.  I kept her in sight for the remainder of the ride, except when she turned back into the campground. I kept thinking I might be faster than her on the run. Much to my surprise, she was still in the transition and right next to me when I came in.

I have to admit here that I pulled a rookie move during T2. I always go through the entire transition area so I know how it flows and exactly where my spot is from all angles. I totally forgot to run through the bike-in section. I came in and went down the wrong lane then had to look for my stuff which never looks the same after T1. I finally spotted it, racked my bike and said to the girl who passed me "man it's cold" she responded "yea, nothing's working right" I stuffed my cold, wet, sandy feet into my shoes, grabbed my race belt and took off.

As I ran through the chute, Tami yelled "TWO!" I didn't know if that meant two ahead of me or I was second. A 1/2 mile into the three mile run I see her....

Of course after the race was over, the sun came out but not before some photos!

Tami, Julia, Jamie and Regina-thanks for the signs!

My finishers medal

Jamie, Julia, Sue, Susan, Me, Sandi, Tami, Trish and Regina

Thanks to everyone who came and stood in the rain to support me! Thanks Jamie and Julia for the signs they helped me go faster!

Life..... and some training

I'm way overdue and could write three pages since my last blog, but I've got a swim-bike brick workout tomorrow morning before work at 8am. It will take me about an hour to get in the water, seeing overnight temps will be in the upper 30's. So I'll keep it short.

After the excitement of qualifying for Worlds-it was back to training, my next race is September 22, the Pitch Pine Challenge in Ossipee NH. It will be the last race of the season and my goal is to place in the top three women overall.

About a week and a half after Nationals, I started having stomach issues which prevented me from doing any type of workout. I tried altering what I ate, I monitored how long after I ate that I got sick, which was never consistent -that ruled out food poisoning. I was sick every day. Seven days into it I finally decided to make a Drs appointment.  Of course the next day I started feeling better. My symptoms started fading and I ended up canceling the appointment. That was last week and since then I've been easing back into training. I've felt pretty good lately, but can tell I took a week off.

I've also picked up a part time job to help with the costs of racing in London and with my races next season. It's two nights a week, unfortunately both on my days off, cleaning the Auto Road base lodge. It's really not that bad and I actually enjoy it, just wouldn't want to do it as a full time job.

On top of training and working seven days a week, I'm in the hunt for an apartment. I live in a summer cottage at work which is perfect, I don't have to drive to work all summer. However it is not insulated so in the Fall it gets pretty chilly, I do have heat but the heater is near the front door and my bedroom is at the opposite end of the cottage. So I've got about a month left before I wake up as a popsicle.

The past four winters I've rented an apartment in Randolph at a VERY affordable price. It included everything! Heat, electricity, internet, plowing, washer/dryer and use of the garage and plenty of storage for all my gear. Well that got rented to someone else this winter. So trying to budget for racing, training, playing hockey which I may not be able to do this winter and an apartment which most likely will not include utilities, has been pretty stressful. But I know it will all work out, eventually.

I'm also looking for more sponsors and preparing a race portfolio. This means I have to "brag" about myself, something I've never been comfortable with. If I want sponsorships and my fundraising to be successful I have to put myself out there.

A quote by Neale Donald Walsh, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." will push me to become more confident. 

5th Place at Nationals!

I made it! I qualified to compete in the WORLD TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS! Honestly, its never been a goal of mine. I've seen it advertised in Triathlete magazine but that's where it has stayed; on paper.

My goal for Nationals was to have fun but place at least 18th in my age group. I had no idea what the competition would be like. It's the Nationals, pretty much the best racers in the entire nation. I researched results from last year and there were only 10 women in my age group, this year 40 of us had registered! Last year the top five females overall finished between 1:11 and 1:14. In my age group the span was 1:12 -1:39. I would have been second in my age group with my 1:14:38 finish time. Huge difference this year, the top female finished in 1:05:25, almost 10 minutes faster than me!

We watched some of the Olympic distance race on Saturday. I needed to see how the swim start went and just watching others race gets me pumped! The water was very choppy that morning and I thought- oh man I'm in for a rough swim! It looked like the ocean, nothing compared to the glass like surface at Echo Lake where I've been training. The start was quite a bit different than I'm used to. Transition closed at 7:30am and some had to wait almost 2 hours to start. I knew that would throw me off a little but now I knew what to expect at my race.  I met my family for lunch, got a few things at Skirack and showed them how transition would go and the best spots where to view my race.

Mandatory bike check in was at 4:30pm on Saturday. I've never had to leave my bike overnight nor go through the flow of the transition area the day before. Some people were putting bags over their seats, wheels and entire bikes. I thought thats a waste since everyone is going to be wet when they get on their bikes and there was no forecast for rain. In the sea of over 1,000 bikes it's easy to loose your place especially when you are going at race pace. Each row had a letter assigned to it, I was between C and D. The back side of transition was lined with flags of different countries. My bike was lined up with a blue flag don't ask me what country it was, all I needed to know was that it was blue. As I practiced coming in from the swim I didn't visualize my bike, I found C & D and then the blue flag. With my bike checked in the only thing left to do was to eat, apply my tri tats and do my hair.

As I jogged back to the campsite my mind was focusing on each leg of the race. All I have to do is excute what I have been doing in training, thats it! Dinner was chicken and veggies with Gina Tami Sue and Sinea-then it was tatoo time! My numbers were temporary tatoos, perhaps the most exciting part of this race for me. Tami Sinea and I made sure they weren't upside down and were perfectly lined up. Once I peeled away the backing I got such a rush, I felt like a professional racer!

Since my hair isn't quite long enough for a low ponytail I wanted the front part sectioned and in small elastics so it wouldn't distract me during my race. I described how I wanted it to Sinea and she did a great job!
I packed my transition bag while listening to music, making sure I had everything. I was in bed around 9 and fell asleep rather quickly, only to be woken up at 10:30 by the campers next door tinkering with stuff. Then I was awake worrying if I had trained enough, hoping my race would run smoothly -the typical stuff I think about before any race. Because it was Nationals the worrying was multiplied by 10! Alarm went off, but I was already awake. I needed to focus before anything distracted me so I put in my head phones and let the music run through my body.  I wasn't getting nervous, breakfast was egg and cheese on a toasted multigrain roll. I double checked my bag just in case I forgot something. We walked about 1.5 miles down the bike to the start. I felt a little bad that I wasn't talking to Tami, Gina Sinea or Sue but I knew they understood. I gave Regina my bag halfway there and jogged the rest of the way.

Arriving at transition was a bit overwheling, this was it-this is what I've trained all summer for. I organized my spot, went through the exits and entrances pf transition one last time. I couldn't leave my bag there, I had to check it. I pulled out my wetsuit, goggles and swim cap and had almost 45 minutes before my wave started. I never have that much time. I didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't bring extra sneakers to warm up more so I put my wetsuit on. I had borrowed a friends that fit a little better than mine-thanks Sally! I stretched as I watched other waves starting. I was surrounded by the support of Team Skidmore which felt good but did not calm me.

8:05 it was time. I made my way over with all the other red caps, we shuffled down the ramp and into the water. We had a few minutes to warm up while we waited for the wave ahead of us to start. I wanted to throw up but knew that wouldn't be good for the water or others trying to swim. We lined up and I made sure I was off to the side not to be caught in the chaos. "2 minutes to start give the girl next to you a high five and have fun!" came over the megaphone. I high fived some girl only wanting to kick her butt :). I had my finger on the start button 3.2.1 Go and we were off. I swam as hard as I could and kept to the outside. As I rounded the second turn and went to sight the next bouy all I could see was the glare of the sun out of one eye, my right goggle was half filled with water. I could see a few swimmers ahead of me so I did my best to follow them. Turned the last bouy and saw the exit-"just get there and then you can fly on your bike" I repeated to myself.  If I feel good about my swim I'll check my watch, I didn't feel fast so I didn't look. I heard someone yell under 15 and that made me smile.

T1- rip off wetsuit put on sunglasses, helmet and shoes and run as fast as you can out of the transition. Not very easy after swimming a 1/2 mile. Some racers keep their shoes clipped in to their bike pedals and get their wet grassy feet into them as they start riding. I find that very difficult especially in this race where we started on a narrow bike path. Being already clipped in I passed alot of people and powered out of the cluster. I saw my mom and Jim and gave them a fist pump-which I never do but I was here to have fun too! Around the tight corner and over the carpet covered train tracks, over the "cobblestone" around 2 more corners before I could get up to speed. I had ridden the course before so I knew about the turnaround just ahead. I'm a pretty decent mountain biker so I felt confident making the 180 turn. My coach Steve Vosburgh told me not to come out of those too hard and kill it, I stuck to the plan and got back up to speed quickly. Up next was a steady climb. Not steep enough to get out of the saddle but steep enough to make you think you do. I raised my cadence and looked down, I peddled hard and got up with enough to maintain the speed I was at before the climb. I passed a few more people. The next section was on Highway 127! I was very excited for this. The highway was closed and it was awesome coming down the on ramp at 30 mph! I passed more people. We exited the highway and had to get back on to make the 12.4 mile distance. I was passed getting off by a girl in my age group and then by another. I made sure they didn't get far. The first girl got away but the second one who's name I found out later was Dana, and I leapfrogged the rest of the course. There were officials on motorcycles passing us the whole time I felt like I was in the Tour de France. It was awesome! We came back down the same hill and Dana was just ahead of me, we rounded the corner and hit the straight away. This is were I pull my feet out of my shoes for a speedy transition.

I saw the blue streak of Team Skidmore and gave another fist pump I was loving this!! Dana dismounted right before me and I passed her going into the transition. I didn't have to take my shoes off -she did. Bike racked, helmet off and running shoes on. I put my race belt on as I'm running out to save even more time. Ran out of the shoot and heard my friend Christine "looking strong Meg!" I felt it too. I ran the course a few weeks prior so I knew about the huge hill we faced starting out on the run.

Steve was right there and said "just settle in". I couldn't until I got to the top. I felt so good still hadn't looked at my watch. Down then up by the high school and down through North Beach Campground right past our campsite to the Island Line Trail. 1.5 miles left. It was all coming to an end, all the work I put in-the early morning swims, the hill repeats, the intervals and it felt good it all came together. I got passed by a few but that was ok because I couldn't give much more and they weren't in my age group and most not even my gender. I wanted so bad to go harder but I knew I couldn't hold it to the end. I glanced at my watch 1:11 not bad! As I came around the last corner I picked it up a bit, then hitting the finish chute I turned it on! I ran as fast as I could.

I felt my form kinda go and I must have looked like little Forest Gump -head down fists pumping so hard they are raising overhead and knees so high I'm almost eating them. I saw the finish and threw my hands up and almost collapsed. I was handed water, and a wet towel and was pretty wobbly- a volunteer asked me if I needed assistance- I was ok. I was handed a finishers medal and went with the flow of racers pouring through the chute. I did it- I left it all out there. Then I started crying, I don't really know why at that point, it just came out. Maybe because it was all over, all of it, my training, all my effort, all had come to an end. I've never cried after finishing a race. I was quite the mess so glad I had sunglasses on to hide it.

Team Skidmore came and met me and the tears kept coming. All I wanted was results and that's exactly what everyone else wanted. It was a cluster near the posted results. The page for my age group was posted to 4th place with a time of 1:13:37, unofficially I finished at around 1:14. Gina said you have it but I needed to see it with my own eyes. There was a very long line to get a receipt of your official time, splits and placement. Christine had found me at that point and she insisted she'd wait in line for me, I wasn't about to argue. I talked about my race with everyone while we waited for Christine's phone call to say she was nearer to getting the results. It came and Gina and I ran over. I gave my number and in just 2 seconds I had my "golden ticket". I didn't look at my finish time or my splits, all I saw was 5th in age group. I smiled ear to ear at Regina and Chrsitine. I made my way back over to the group and held up five fingers, they went wild! I completely lost it. I did it. I made it into the top 18 and was 5th, I didn't believe it. I hugged everyone and was beyond myself. I didn't think I'd finish so close to the podium.

Thank you Gina, Steve, Tami, Sue, Mom, Jim, Austin, Emily, Maryann & Paul, Jane & Paul, Sinea, Shaun, Christine and Ellie for being there and supporting me!

Also thanks to all my sponsors: Mt. Washington Auto Road, Great Glen Trails,  Porky Gulch Bike Shop, Corrigan Screen Printing & Awards, Peak Health Sports Massage & Medical Massage Therapy, White Mountain Celebrations, Gorham Hardware, Jay’s quick Lube, Lydia’s Golden Touch Hair Salon, Gorham House of Pizza, Top Notch Inn and Saladino’s Italian Market

Age Group Results
For more photos check out my Facebook Album

All week long I pictured myself telling everyone "I'm going to London" Now it's a reality and it feels amazing!

Nationals are here!

Two days out and I've got a war going on in my mind. I think-I've got this I can easily place top 18! then I think what if I have not trained as hard as the other women in my age group and don't make top 18? At this point there is nothing I can do, but I have experience-I've done this a hundred times. A great friend and Olympian gave me some advice she learned from her coaches; "Do your best but separate yourself from the competition and enjoy the moment, you are racing in the Nationals Meg" I will carry that with me the entire race, thanks Sue Wemyss!

Last night Regina and Tami threw a small send off for me. Friends and co-workers came and shared dessert and wished me the best of luck saying they'll be there in spirit and will send me good vibes on race morning. It was perfect thank you both so much! Oh and I painted my nails red white and blue for good luck and watched USA defeat Japan in the Olympic gold medal women's soccer match.

This morning I do a mini tri. I will go through both transitions and get my legs ready for the quick pace of the race. Then its over to Burlington! We are staying at North Beach Campground just a few miles from the race venue-Waterfront Park. I'll check in and get my race packet which normally consists of lots of brochures, a gel, some sunscreen, coupons and my racing numbers. For Nationals the goody bag is like a prize bag to me. I watched an informational webinar the other day and my race numbers come as a sheet of stickers!! I get a racing belt that I wear running and my timing chip that I cannot loose over the next two days I'll probably just wear it the whole weekend. The most exciting item in that packet are the Tri Tats, temporary race number tattoos! I've seen them in magazines, on TV and on Olympians. I feel like a kid looking up to a my hero wanting the really cool bib they wear. It's just a tattoo, but to me its like official war paint.

Early afternoon Regina and I get picked up by Paul Giblin, the Vice President at Vermont SportsCar and Subaru Rally Team USA for a personal tour of the facility! Yes, Travis Pastrana and the current Auto Road record holder David Higgins have raced for him and I have met and spent some with both Travis and David! This will be a good distraction for a few hours and an amazing experience. 

Saturday another mini tri at North Beach then the Olympic distance Nationals. For me there is nothing better to get me more amped up than watching others race. I know their efforts, I feel their pain and see their face crossing the finish line and that's how I know this is where I belong. 
The rest of the day will be spent hydrating, relaxing and spending some time with my mom and brother. Late afternoon I have to check my bike in-it gets inspected making sure I have not motor rigged up and it meets all other specs. Then I leave her in transition overnight-that's going to be very different, but it's one less thing I'll have to worry about when I pack for race day. Home made dinner chicken and veggies all mixed up. In bed by 9pm hoping sleeps comes easy-no guarantees there, I'm racing the most important race of my life! 



Until Sunday evening......wish me luck!
It is sometimes said that with all the training, one doesn't need luck -to the heck with that. Yes, I'm ready but with good luck comes better chances I won't be faced with uncontrollable situations. So send me as much luck as you'd like!!