One Last Tri - Final Week

The last week of training before a major race has been different for me every time. For my first race ever, a half marathon in 2016, I spent the entire week before the race eating to try and store up enough calories to complete the race. In the following years I learned that this was probably a bad idea, and I definitely did not need that many calories to complete a 13 mile run. The following year I was prepping for my first marathon and spent the entire week before “tapering” and running each day. This would maybe have been a good idea, except I was running more miles that week than I did for most of my training leading up to the race. The next year I ran a marathon and completely stopped training about a month before the marathon. And leading up to a 50k that summer, well let’s just say that was yet again a different situation leading up to the race.

Each of these races had been run faster than the previous, on a different meal, a different diet, and a different training structure. So I believe that my only similarity between these training blocks is adaptability. I have tried to be the type of person who can go with the flow in any situation, and this training block is no different than the previous. I believe that my training had far more structure than the previous races, yet as the race came close life began to take over and I needed to be able to just go with it.

As this week wraps up I am getting everything ready to race, laying out my gear, going through my bike, and writing down my race plan. Prepping everything and visually seeing it laid out in front of me will help to finish preparing my mind. I like to remind myself of the work that I have put in, the long workouts training my heart, the difficult times at my job training my mind. Everything in life has been a test, preparing me for what is to come. At this point, all there is to do is take a deep breathe and get ready to race!