Finish Line 70.3

Finish Line 70.3
Finish Line 70.3

70.3 Finisher!

70.3 Finisher!
70.3 Finisher

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Superstition: 19 days 'til race day!

Stevie Wonder is simply one of my greatest hits guys; he's all over my iPod and he was all over my life, throughout high school, college, law school and thereafter. Although he had a couple of duds IMO, most of his stuff was simply true music--a variety of slow, fast, fun and tuneful (the fact that he was blind is simply beside the point--I mean, the man can ROCK).

Superstition, like many of his songs, is a combo of blues, reggae and rock. It's a great song with cool words (13 month old baby broke the looking glass? C'mon, what a great line. Who uses the term "looking glass" anymore, anyway?). Listening to it last night during a long (2400 yard ladder drill) swim made me think about superstitions and talismans and anything else people do for "luck" prior to, or during a race. When it comes to the start line, we all tend to go thinking about that magic potion that will lift us across that finish line.

This is different than chanting mantras (my mantras tend to evolve, like my training, and what works one day gets tossed aside another day), or even eating and drinking the same stuff, because that is more training than voodoo. Superstitions and rituals are the stuff of the mind, and hey, never let it be said that the mind can't be tricked into thinking certain ways, because it sure by golly can.

I've seen runners touch milepost signs as they go by, I've seen bikers get worried if they get on their bikes on the "wrong side" (like it was a horse or something), I've read about the racers using the same underwear (really, now, who wears UNDERWEAR during a tri race) or socks or hat or whatever. Special bracelets, necklaces, shoelaces--you name it, we got it going on. Writing inspirational messages on one's hand, one's arm, or leg is another thing--although I would probably sweat mine off, which would concern me.

Me? I'm not so partial to anything particular, and I'm suddenly worried about that. I think I might need a bit of the voodoo myself on this race. Is it too late to claim a pair of fairly new socks as my lucky socks? I do have one ritual though: I put on my Ironman Timex ($40, on line) the day BEFORE the race, and take off my regular watch and stow it away. This tells me it's time to get serious; the Watch Is On. Otherwise, I'm pretty non superstitious (my spouse would tell you that isn't true); the pragmatist in me says it's the training and the planning and the nutrition and execution that gets you to the finish chute, not the lucky bracelet.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous now, although so far it's a good nervous. Last Sunday was my last long brick and I didn't perform as well as the prevoius ones, had a good bike ride but a slower run; it was very very windy (30-35 mph) and very hot. Just like race conditions might be! Still, I'm very convinced I am going to do this race, and finish strong. The wind is the same for everyone.

Tonight is a shorter run (intervals, but short) and tomorrow a swim, followed by an interval bike on Thursday, and another swim on Friday (lots of swims lately!). Saturday is a shorter brick (90 minutes) as I start to taper down for the race itself. I'm starting to watch what I eat more carefully, trying hard to ingest lots of good fruits and veggies, good carbs and lean protein, and staying away as much as I can from sugar and booze. I'm at a pretty good weight now, but don't want to put any more on before the race and have to lug it through 56 miles of biking and 13 miles of running! And if I can shed one more pound before the race, that's one less pound to carry. But I have to be careful not to eat too little and get fatigued or out of gas.

I've bought the new goggles, and am still awaiting arrival of the new wetsuit (any day). I've scheduled a haircut. I've bought a new bento box for the bike, a new CO2 cartridge (mine is old, and I worry they may go bad?) and I still have a few little things to put together, but most of the big stuff is done. The bike is right now at the bike shop getting the deluxe tune up and clean and lube so it will be in prime condition on race day (this gives me a couple of weeks to ride it "just in case" someone at the bike shop turns a screw the wrong way--it can happen).

Superstitious? Maybe my new socks will be my talisman for the race. They are from deFeet, and they say "run like hell" on them. Good idea.

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