Day before MiTi

SWIM a few minutes, a few yards?

CB and I swam out towards the first buoy together. I think she said about 10 mins out?

We didn't swim the direction used for the race, so no practice for sighting. Just a feel for the water, test of the sleeveless suit, and a few discoveries about potential current. The water temp was 75 and comfy enough that I could go full or sleeveless, I chose sleeveless because it's the better fitting suit, and there seemed to be a current that pushed me left as I swam towards the exit ramps. That last point is something to take into race day!

We had a Club group lunch after the swim (brought my own lunch of chicken, egg, potato, carrot, berries) then a pre-meeting and packet pickup. During the packet pickup it finally set in that the race is TOMORROW. For the first time I felt that stomach twinge, the nerves, the anxiety. Oh my, it's tomorrow. I've been preparing since late December for this! TOMORROW!

It didn't last long, soon enough I was back to normal. :)

We dropped off our bikes, noted it was getting hot out. TH and I got anxious to get back to the hotel rooms to get our feet up. We also had gear bags to pack. I laid the 5 of them out on the bed and started making piles. I kept getting distracted, put the Guide channel on the TV, kept munching food. I wasn't terribly clear headed here! But I was getting there, found if I warmed up my EFS it was easier to pour. How many gels should I pack into each bag? I sorted them by caffeine, then used that to plan. Decided to bring both wetsuits as extra insurance. Another distraction was that DH was delayed in coming back to town by traffic, and M&D were delayed by heavy rain. I wanted to wait to eat with them, but in the end needed to leave the room with TH to eat and get away from it a few minutes.

My sleep was OK, like the past few weeks I'd wake up in the middle of the night and wake up earlier than my alarm. But I was rested.

My pre-race routine was planned and quiet. We had a suite room with a small kitchenette, so I pretty much had all my food with me. I don't think I ate a purchased meal at all. Chicken breasts, poached eggs, clementines, almond butter, zucchini frittata, bananas, rice balls. Also packed some canned fish and veg that I didn't use. For a brief moment in a groceries trip on Fridat I had some mild panic about what I was going to eat today. For the rest of the group (TH, IT, and CB), it seemed so easy! This, that, carbs, fuel, whatever they wanted. But I felt lost and out of my element. I came up with some frozen carrots, fresh zucchini, and yukon gold potatoes. That worked!