A Week Until My Race

This past week has been rough sleep-wise. E has been waking up a lot during the night. It seems like her teeth have really been bothering her lately which breaks my heart. I've definitely grown a lot more patient with her than in the past. Sometimes sleep deprivation makes you a little crazy and impatient. I've really struggled with that part of me but have finally come to terms with how to handle it all. I'm hoping that her pain goes away soon and we can go back to our one usual wake-up a night hahaha.

Today I crushed my brick workout which I am SO excited about. We cycled about 18.5 miles and maintained an 18.9 mph pace which is HUGE for me. I even pulled a bit, which, again, is HUGE for me. I'm really excited I had a nice ride since next week is the race. It definitely boosted my confidence which I needed. Afterwards I got in a quick mile with my cycling partner. I figured getting just a mile in would be enough to keep developing muscle memory in my legs. I finished my mile in about 7:45. Again, I'm happy with my time given the average speed I did on the bike.

Next week is my race and I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. On the one hand I want to absolutely crush the race since I've been training so hard. However, at the same time I want to take it easy since I'm known to be so hard on myself and will be crushed if I don't do well. I know you shouldn't put pressure on yourself for these things but it's hard not to. It's almost like everyone has this expectation of you to kick butt and you don't want to disappoint. It's crazy to think but it's so true. I recently had a friend admit this same thing to me and she avoids telling people she races so if she doesn't perform well she doesn't get judged for it. Sigh, why can't we just realize that everyone has bad races and it's okay?! Maybe part of it falls on us as athletes. Maybe we should just tell people you know what - yes, I had a bad race but I'm going to get back out there and continue to train hard because it will eventually pay off. Eh - let's see how I handle the pressure next week.

In other news I'm trying to clean up my diet. Let's be real I eat POORLY!!!!! Especially when I finally admit to myself that I probably consume 500-1,000 calories of dessert/sugary items...I know.. I know.. So I'm trying to reduce the amount of sugar I intake. This includes taking things like Gatorade/PowerAde or other hydration that contains a high amount of sugar. I am actually going back to a hydration company I've used in the past: Skratch Labs. They tend to have hydration options (daily/exercise) which contain less sugar than the alternative hydration methods I typically take. I just got my daily hydration powder and use it EVERY DAY. That's huge for me considering I probably don't hydrate nearly as much as I should.... I mean... I drink about 2 cups of liquid a day and that's on a good day... I know... I know... Can't you just imagine how great of an athlete I could be if I actually treated my body better? I'm working on it.

So, I had a good ride, a nice acai bowl as a snack and now I am relaxing before E wakes up. Overall it's been a kick arse day. I'll leave you with some pictures so you can take part in my foolishness.

After our brick!!! I love having my hair in braids during triathlons/brick workouts.

My cycling partner: H! We never get a picture together so I snapped one of him getting ready to ride back home.