No pictures, just thoughts....

4 days to race day! That's F-O-U-R. The excitement is sticking & hasn't turned back to anxiety or fear yet. This is good. Very good.

Monday swim went extremely well. We swam a broken 1,500 and I had my best time to date. The pace I kept is one I really feel I could maintain although never have in a big race. We'll see if Sunday is the day. I've got coached swim tonight too and it will be an "easy" workout. I'm looking forward to getting in the water and doing some visualizing for Sunday. Yee haw!!

Last night was an easy track workout consisting of a 1 mile warmup, main set of 6x400 and a 1 mile cool down. I love 400's! Misty & I headed to the track and did a pretty good job pacing. We tended to start out too fast and would take turns lecturing each other on slowing down. Well, maybe not lecture but there was a lot of, "we started too fast again" or "stop chasing the other runners". We were at the same track OutRival works out at so it was nice to see some familiar faces and not feel totally alone out there. We missed our teammates though. I rarely get to do track workouts with the group anymore b/c I just can't get there from work. The past month or so those training for IMFL haven't even had track workouts b/c "Ironman races aren't about speed" as coach said. Boy was I glad to hear that b/c my IMTX probably won't be described as speedy. :)

Packet pickup starts today but I'm waiting until Saturday to get mine. No word yet as to what's going on with the swim course. Val is getting her packet tonight and she's promised to give me the scoop (if there is any). I am definitely to the point where I don't care what they do about the swim so long as they don't cancel it. If we have to walk part of it, so be it. We'll all be faced with the same challenges. I just want my first 70.3 to be a true 70.3, not a 69.1. That doesn't even round to 70!

I've been thinking so much about this race. This is the strangest pre-race feeling I've ever had. I feel strangely calm about it. Maybe part of it is b/c I know what's done is done and nothing that happens this week will change anything. Maybe it's b/c I know this isn't about how fast I finish but about finishing. Period. Maybe for once, I really believe in myself. I'm not saying I never believe in myself but if you've raced, you know what I mean. It's easy to doubt if you'll be at your best on any given Sunday (or race day).

My biggest focus the rest of the week is nutrition. I'm trying to be mindful of the carbs, proteins & fats I'm putting in my body, always asking myself if this is the best fuel I can find. I'm hydrating like it's going out of style. Sports drink is accompanying me everywhere. I feel good.

Well, those are my hump day thoughts. I'm curious to see what tomorrow brings and if everything I'm feeling now will continue or if the nerves will start to creep in.