Getting ready for my ‘A’ race

At the beginning of this season I sat down with coach and outlined my goals for the year:  To qualify for and race in the USAT National Championships.  I qualified with the first race of the season.  Everything since then has been about getting ready for the race, my ‘A’ race.

I try not to think about my ‘A’ races too much as I end up putting too much pressure on myself.  Fortunately I’ve been busy with racing and camp which didn’t leave me much time.  Unfortunately USAT has been bombarding me with almost daily emails reminding me about “The Big Day”.  That makes it a little tougher to not get stressed about it!

So, where do I stand?  I haven’t raced in a while, and in my last race the swim didn’t quite go as planned.  I’ve got a final tune-up race in about 10 days.  It is a sprint distance, so the purpose is to shake out the cobwebs and any lingering concerns over my last race.  The catch is that 10 days puts us in early August and it should be a pretty hot day.  Oh well, it should only last an hour or so!

I did have an excellent camp earlier this month.  I gained a lot of fitness strength and knowledge, but at what I hope isn’t too much of a cost.  While doing the running drills I tweaked my hamstring, and it is still bothering me a bit.  I’ve scaled back my training this week and will continue to do so until I can’t feel it anymore.  Right now it only bothers me when I run uphill or at a faster pace.  Obviously I will be avoiding both of those for a while!  I’m not sure if I will do this next race if it is still bothering me as it just isn’t worth it in the grand scheme of things.

I had my first encounter this weekend with cramping in over two years.  The first time it happened I didn’t know what it was.  This time I still didn’t realize it until it was all over, mostly because I’ve never had cramps in my quads before.  Thinking back to the first time it happened (after my first Olympic distance triathlon) and how my legs felt this time it is now obvious to me what was going on.  Fortunately both times it was when I was through with my race/run as I’m not sure what I would do if that happened in a race.  I do know this:  I’m going to work hard to try and prevent it from happening again!

After a day off yesterday and a very easy week last week (other than a solid weekend) I feel very rested, almost like I haven’t been training.  I’m ready to get back at it, gently.  I do need to get in some good quality workouts before the big race, mostly for my head, to remind myself of what I am capable of doing.

Let’s see how this week goes and how the hamstring feels!