Swim, Bike, Run, Eat, Sleep, Race.

So it's Sunday night. Exactly one week before the race. At this moment, halfway around the world, the Olympic triathletes are half way through the Beijing course. Here in Washington, DC - this is where we are. Swim, bike, run, eat, sleep. Repeat.

I can tell I'm nervous because I can't stop pacing in my house - compulsively making equipment lists while icing my knee and randomly watching Ironman video footage on YouTube.
I have to assume this is the first blush of insanity.

I'm not going to lie to you. I am a stress case.

But - here's the weird thing. I have this almost unsettling sense of clarity about having a goal. I have a race. My goal is to finish the race. And until I get to the race it's my priority. It's a weird feeling for me - having a set of priorities, which creates some kind of hierarchy of social organization. I am not an organized person. I don't have any routines that I cherish. I periodically forget appointments, I'm constantly late and I tend to run from one thing to another - always feeling about half an hour behind everyone else with this unsettling feeling that I'm wearing the wrong thing.

But this race seems to be calming me down - even as I spend hours working myself into a froth about whether or not I'll get kicked in the face during the swim and what if I have to walk? And what happens if I get the flu between now and sunday and oh my god, my mother is going to be there, I can't walk during the run. So I have all that playing on a loop in my head - but the rest of my everyday stress fades into background noise. I don't feel worried about things I can't get to. I don't feel constantly guilty about things that I'm not attending -- both of which ensure that I'm not constantly late to few things that I do decide to go to. swim, bike, run, eat, sleep. If it's not on that list - then it's white noise at this point.

I've been pushing hard in the last week - knowing it was my last chance to beat myself up before the race "taper" starts. I'm finally FINALLY able to run again. I've still been running with walking intervals. But I'm running real distances again (thank God, thank you thank you). For all those who have ever been on a treadmill and wanted to run five miles while only being able to do 1/10th will understand the frustration. Last week I tried the race distance in the pool and it was awesome. It felt so fantastic - I wasn't fast. It wasn't pretty. But now I know I can swim it. Ditto for the run. And then on Saturday I got up at 7:30am (I know - me up early on a Saturday - I'm as shocked as anyone else here) to go biking with a group an hour outside DC. We did 40 miles, clipping along at about 19 mph. I felt like a rockstar - was on a biking high long enough to get me home so I could eat everything I could get my hands on and fall dead asleep for 45 minutes.

So here we go: Race Week

Sunday: (today) ice knee, cook food. think about race. do nothing. resist urge to do things. complusively call people instead. stretch.

Monday: Swim. Depending on knee (right one is twingy this time - what's up with that??). Possibly light jog in afternoon if knee feels better.

Tuesday: Bike to work. Final Bike fit at Conte's - possibly going to be purchasing new shoes depending on what they tell me about my cleat position vs knee problems. Purchase race snacks (espresso power shots have a starring role at mile 10 of the bike ride). Bike home.

Wednesday: Back in the pool - light swim. Light run in the afternoon.

Thursday: Final bike ride - leisurely pace. Jess arrives from NYC (not on the train, as you may assume -- no no. she's just going to bike it... like you do).

Friday: baby swim, baby ride, baby jog. Load car. Check and double check equipment eight million times. Avoid caffiene past four pm in order to sleep as much as humanly possible.

Saturday: Drive out to Colombia for equipment safety check, registration - ID and wristband are strapped on at this point and have to stay on until the race is over. Rack bike and rest of equipment at the course. Go to Jess's friend's house. Eat pasta. Curl up and try to sleep.

Sunday: RACE DAY - gun goes off for the silver caps (me!!!) at 7:53am. With any luck, all the pain and suffering will be over by 10am.

Meanwhile, in other unrelated news, I put on my tri unisuit for the first time in six months this afternoon. It's been hanging on the back wall of my closet - on a seperate hanger so I see it everytime I open the door. It's sleeveless razor back white top with grey shorts - lightly padded with small hot pink stripes. On the hanger it looks fast and sleek and has that "I'm sponsored" vibe. When I finally fought my way into it I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw this girl who was tanned and looked strong -- like she knew what she was doing --and I thought, "well, damn. I look good in this."

Hey hey. I might be able to finish this damn thing after all :)