Tinman Triathlon Eve

The race is on Sunday, stupidly, I started getting ready (relatively) late on Saturday. I frittered away the day thinking I had time, and suddenly the hours accelerated, and the day was over. Never again. Next time, I will prep everything two nights before or the morning before the race. I ended up running around gathering things when I really should have already been in bed.

Devoting all that thought to what I needed for the race just amped me up and created a little anxiety where there had been none before. If I had gotten everything ready two nights before, that would give me that time to contemplate anything I had missed, which is my primary anxiety-inducing thought. Also, dashing all over the house gathering things elevates the heart rate, so you're not exactly ready to climb into bed. So, two nights before, from now on!

As it was, I climbed into bed around 9, but couldn't fall asleep until after 11. When you are getting up at 3, that's not good. Fortunately, when I did fall asleep, I slept hard. Not the fitful sleep I had before the marathon. When the alarm went off, I would have liked more sleep, but the adrenaline did the job of getting me up without being too groggy.

What I did right:
- took a shower right before I went to sleep. It's one less thing to deal with in the morning, and it helps to cool you down before getting in bed on a hot night.
- eating - I'm writing this after the race, which went well, so for future record, I'm recording what I ate. On Friday, and Saturday, I drank only water (barring the green tea frappaccino I craved on Saturday morning, oops). I noted what I ate Thursday through Sunday's race. Note that Thursday absolutely sucks nutritionally, but it didn't seem to do too much harm. Friday and Saturday were ok. I think Sunday went almost perfectly nutrition-wise. No bonking, and it seemed I got a surge of energy each time I started to feel weak.

Thursday:
oatmeal
half an eggplant-parmesan sandwich
nachos and margaritas (bad jen!)

Friday:
oatmeal
1 slice thai veggie pizza
thai chicken/veggie curry
Cobb salad

Saturday:
oatmeal
green tea frappaccino
Tuna sandwich on whole grain bread
Veggie whole wheat pasta salad minimal w/ butter/olive oil/white wine sauce (artichokes, broccoli, bell pepper, zuccinni, sun dried tomatos, and capers)

Sunday (race day):
3:15am - oatmeal
3:30-4am - fruit smoothie in car on way to race
5:00am - 1/3 of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
~6:25 (T1) - 1 'espresso love' gu
~7:00 (bike course) - one 1.5" square of pb&j which did NOT want to go down. next time stick to gu.
~7:50 (T2) - 1 'espresso love' gu

packing list:
I used the smaller-than-my-normal-bag pink bag since I was going to need to ride my bike with it. In it, I crammed:
towel (left in the car to cover the seat afterwards)
two rags (one to sit on, one to wipe feet with)
water bottle (to wash feet with)
goggles (bring spare)
swim cap (official one if provided)
helmet
socks
bike shoes
shades
bike jersey
sunscreen
blister-shield
run shirt
running shoes

Misc things that needed to be done the night before:
fill water bottles on bike
lay out clothes: swim top, tri-shorts, long-sleeve shirt, yoga pants, socks, hairband, watch
make pb&j sandwich to eat before race, cut up and put in fridge
put food (3+ gus and opened bag of shot bloxs) in bento box
put sticker number on helmet
put number on bike shirt
put number on run shirt
put number on bike (note, my water bottle was too big and got stuck once the number was on. use a smaller water bottle in the front holder)
get oatmeal bowl ready
mix fruit in container for smoothie and put in freezer
put blender in living room with towel to deaden sound

Misc things that needed to be done on race day:
eat oatmeal
make smoothie
put sandwich in bag
get number written on arm/leg (someone was there to do this)
make sure chip works (hear a beep after going over a mat? this cost me)