Reality hit when my race pack arrived in the post at the beginning of the week. It all seems very real now, no longer just this event on the horizon that I’ve been talking about so much. In fact, it has been occupying my mind an awful lot recently.
 
I’ve been doing a lot of reading online about triathlons over the past few days – mainly to get more of an understanding on how current tri stars such as Helen Jenkins <http://www.helentucker.co.uk/>  and Emma Snowsill <http://www.emma-snowsill.com/>   (who also train with Suunto heart rate monitors <http://www.suunto.com/tseries> , like me!) deal with the grueling course and the pressure. Obviously, I don’t have anywhere near that kind of pressure on me but I am feeling my own pressure to do well, beat my PB and feel that I really did try my best on the day by pushing myself to the limit, in a sensible way of course.
 
From the reading I’ve done, there seems to be so much that can affect your performance on the day, you certainly seem open to many challenges along the way. I guess I just have to remain composed, feel confident that the training I have done is enough to see me through in good time, and enjoy myself. Mustn’t forget this last point!
 
My training has been pretty solid over the past week but something I realized I hadn’t had any practice in was the transitions between each stage. So I’ve put some time into literally taking my bike down to Hampstead Health, having a short swim then immediately getting out and getting on my bike. It’s actually a lot tougher than it looks when you’re wet, tired, cold…I’ve definitely mastered the bike to run more easily.
 
Kind of just want to get the race over with now – I wonder if I’ll want to do another one after…