Yesterday I mentioned secret weapons. Truth is I don't have any. I don't have any superpowers. The secret to a good race is the physical training and the mental training. I've done the hard work for this race. I don't have any new tricks up my sleeve. Most likely, I will race like I've trained. BUT, I am employing (deploying) a few different tactics.
First off, I'm treating this as a big training day. I'm taking the pressure off a little bit. I'm going to swim my best - go hard and strong, dial it back on the ride and focus on the run. In the past, I've gone a little too hard on the bike and I think my run suffers. I'm planning on staying in zone two and seeing what happens on the run.
Second, I'm going to see what happens when I don't taper for a race. I did a functional strength workout on Monday. I did a 4200-yard swim on Tuesday. I did a quality bike on Wednesday and another hard swim with mixed strokes on Thursday. My body will be tired and I want to see how it reacts to my big training day.
If I had a secret weapon, I would say it's PICKLE POPS. I've been practicing with them in transition between the bike and run and they are delicious. Pickle juice is supposed to provide electrolytes from the sodium and glycogen replenishment from the vinegar. After hours on the bike drinking pink-lemonade-or-grape-flavored-hummingbird-juice and eating GU gels, pickle juice tastes freaking amazing. It's worked in practice, let's see how it works in the race.
