Blog

Friday night: T minus 33 hours

It’s dangerous territory, I know, to try to make comparisons from year-to-year. That’s especially true because there are always factors that make it impossible to do a true like-for-like comparison. Trying to compare this year to last is enough to drive me crazy. It invariably leads me to make negative statements: I’m not as fit as I was last year, I didn’t train as much as I did last year, I didn’t this or that this year. So, there’s no rational reason for me to do it.

That being said, it’s nearly impossible not to think about this year in the context of my racing history in general and last year’s race here at Lake Placid in particular. As the race has gotten closer, a lot of people have asked me what my “goal” is. I’ve been trying to keep with the “I don’t have a time goal this year, I just want to finish happy” line that I agreed to when I decided not to drop out of the race, but that’s tough, especially since my training has been going so well recently. I know my splits from last year by heart, I know how my training went this year, I know how I’ve felt for the last few weeks and how I feel today. So, instead of avoiding the subject, I’m going to dive right in and write about it.

First, there are a number of things that are same as last year: I’m about to do the same race at the same distances on the same course at the same time of year. I’ve worked my tail off in the gym, in the pool and on the road. I worked all year with Coach John. I’ll be on the same bike and wearing the same wetsuit. I’ll fuel primarily with Infinit. My parents, Elizabeth and Charlie are all here helping me get through the pre-race days (read: putting up with my shit) and will be cheering for me on Sunday.

Now, the differences: