I'm off!

I composed a big post yesterday at work but forgot to email it home. Oops!

Anyway, just a quick post before I leave for New Plymouth...

1- Taper week was actually a taper week, pretty much. Work forced me to take it easy exercise-wise (I did a great spin class on Tuesday and a fairly easy swim on Wednesday, but missed my planned run on Thursday because I had a client meeting...) but it hasn't exactly been a week of rest and minimal stress. Ah well. My eating has been OK- I hit a low weight earlier in the week so have worked on keeping my good calories up since then.

2- Weather is amazing here this morning! I wish I wasn't leaving- especially knowing that the weather in NP (which is usually better than here) will not be great this weekend. Ah well. Strong winds and showers are forecast for Saturday's race, but I hear that "strong" has quite a different meaning in NP! Here's hoping. I'm also hoping that the jellyfish that invaded the NP harbour a couple of weeks ago have decided to go home!

3- I am REALLY looking forward to racing. I snuck out for an 8 minute run this morning- just to make sure my legs still worked! I have gotten over the "it's just a sprint" feeling that I think had been lurking throughout my training so far. Yeah- maybe it is just a sprint. But it's my FIRST proper sprint. It'll take me 1:30ish, which isn't much less time than a half marathon takes me. It's OK for this to be an "A" race, even if I don't achieve what I want to (solid swim, 27kph average on the bike, run under 25). So I am amped. I am looking forward to struggling into my wetsuit, cramming my swimcaps on, slipping my goggles down. I'm looking forward to testing the water, then starting in a mad rush (from what I can see, we're starting with the men, all in one wave??!!), getting beaten up my flailing legs, swimming madly offcourse, spluttering in the salt water (no rose tinted goggles for this newbie!). I'm looking forward to dropping stuff in transition, to hobbling out of T1, clipping in smoothly (can't be too pessimistic here) and heading out on the course. I'm looking forward to tackling the winds head on, to forgetting to reset my computer, to nervously approaching the turn arounds and to freaking out about whether I'm drafting, to cruising back into T2, unclipping uneventfully. Looking forward to lacing up my running shoes, pushing those brick legs out of transition and picking those beeyatches ahead of me off one by one (yeah, right)! I'm looking forward to kicking it over the finish line, seeing P cheering me on, taking photos.

4- We found out last night that some friends of ours will be in the Naki for the weekend too. Yay! Hopefully P will find some spectating company. It seems that NP is really getting into world tri festival spirit. It's been hard to tell whether it's a big deal or not- lots of Wgtn triathletes barely knew what I was on about when I mentioned where I was racing, but it seems that it should be well supported. I am excited about being involved in the atmosphere of a big deal race!

5- My toe is still a bit of a pain, especially during swimming. We'll tape it up heaps tomorrow anyway. I have to make sure I really mangle it on the run- I'd rather end the race with a bloody toe than a munted calf, and I am already feeling myself using my lower legs to ease off the toe. Silly. It doesn't hurt that much, but it's irritating.

That's all for now folks.. Have great weekends and I look forward to posting a race report when I get back!