Feel like a kid waiting for X-mas

Race week always feels weird to me....

This Saturday I am doing my second Half Ironman of the year. 70.3 miles- 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run....and a partridge in a pear tree.

The last few months my race schedule was put together with the sole purpose of building me into this race. A slow build through the summer months, transitioning me into a pretty busy September and October slate of races, and now here we are. Race week.

Which brings me back to my first point....race week always feels weird to me...

First off you have the anticipation that builds, almost like a kid in the week leading up to X-mas. You know what is coming, and as each day passes you get more and more excited, and the week just seems like it takes forever. Most people will say just go about your normal routine and it will be here before you know it, BUT that brings me to point #2....

During race week you don't get to go through your normal routine. Its all about tapering and making sure you are fully rested for race day. Up to this point you have you have been pushing your body through intense workouts to make sure you are ready for race day. You have been doing swim sprints till you can barely move your arms. Riding hills until your legs feel like they are on fire. And of course running farther than some people drive in a day. And then all of a sudden you aren't...

You are supposed to go from pushing yourself through workouts to just going through the motions anywhere from 25%-50% of the intensity or distance that you normally would. It feels weird, it feels like you are slacking, it actually is harder to do the lower intensity workouts than it is to let you body go with what it has been getting used to. No matter how many races I have done, it still always feels wrong to me.

So just like a kid on Xmas I try not to look at the calendar. I will try not to think about the race. I try not to count the days, or even the hours until I know I will be jumping into the water. I will just go about my normal routine, and try to make myself sleep the night before. Because to me waking up on race day feels the same as a kid waking up on Xmas morning.