pre-race: escape from alcatraz
We’re officially 9 days out and some pre-race jitters have set in. It’s strange I’ve never been nervous for a race like this before. Sure you’ll feel some jitters night before / morning of but not a week out.
What’s playing into this is how much anticipation and build up there’s been. For one, I was planning to go last year and it was deferred. So now I’m flying back (have to figure out packing this bike still) and it’s taking up a lot of personal time here to swim, bike, run. Whereas last year I planned for this and had a community around it, this year the time commitment feels more like a sacrifice - new job, new city, lots of other things I could spend time on.
I’ve also legitimately wanted to do Alcatraz ever since moving to SF. So that’s what…5 years in the making now? It’s such an iconic race and I may not have the chance to do it again. Want to make this effort count.
That and it’s a hard course ha. I’m dreading the cold water and the cold bike. Been training in crazy heat all this time omg so we’ll see how that plays out.
Something I have to keep reminding myself is I got into tris completely for fun. What a novel concept. These last few weeks I’ve felt tinges of burnout (training solo will do that!) and have been trying to consciously remind myself of why I started this journey in the first place.
Telling myself to trust the process. I’ve done what I can, time to trust the training and enjoy the ride.