Wetsuit, Bike, Taper, Food, Blah balh balh balaljlajf

Yesterday I tried on and swam in my rented wetsuit for the first time. It had an ENORMOUS positive effect. I have a problem that apparently many people have; my hips ride low in the water, especially when I'm taking a breath, and this causes me to have to drag my body through the water using a lot more effort than if my hips were high and floating. The wetsuit causes me to float much higher in the water overall, including my hips, and I shaved 10 seconds off my previous best lap time. 10 seconds.

I will be commuting home via bike/Caltrain/bike today, so as to get some more practice with the aerobars Joe is lending me. They are going to make my race SO MUCH more pleasant. I haven't been riding my bike much at all lately, and I'm sure it will be my weakest event in the race.

I tried to go to a "Mental Race Preparation" seminar last night, but the time of the event had been changed without announcement and I only caught the last few minutes. I still learned a few good things, I think. First is that I'm going to spend some time between now and the race just sitting quietly and visualizing the race: how I'll feel, what the wind will smell like, etc. Next is to make a list of things to do on race morning, so that when I'm done with that list and just waiting to start the race I won't be tempted to stress out about what I may have forgotten to do and will instead just relax and get myself into a good mental place to race. Lastly, I learned some techniques to keep yourself alert and focused and not bored during the long stretches of straight road and no finish line in sight. I'm sure that by mile 8 on the bike or mile 3 on the run I'll be VERY ready for the whole thing to just be DONE.

My training taper has officially begun. Sleep and hydration and nutrition are my top priorities. I've been cutting out sugar and caffeine. I have a 10pm bedtime. Food is my nemesis, as always, but I'm doing as well as I can and trying not to stress about it. I've been gaining weight this week and was mildly freaking out about it until I remembered that my period is coming up SOON and it's probably just water retention. But now I'm mildly freaking out about the possibility that I'll be having my period during the race.

Nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can do to get in better shape or lose weight at this point, either. The only things I can do are eat right, drink water, plan, and sleep. And not freak out.