To me, no matter how many miles i have trained, racing a triathlon is quite scary, because it is out of my comfort zone. But I think with a lot more practice about the race, days before it, It might ease my mind a little bit on the D-day.
Triathlon is like a mental game to me, how much longer I can endure these miles and not giving up. Me or you, and everyone else training everyday to strengthen those muscle and finish it well on the race day. But how ready is you mind? Now i could give you some advice on preparing a triathlon race.
Visualized your race day
what I mean is, weeks before your race, before bed or when you're relaxing, try to close your eyes and imagine your race day. Imagine on how you swim, when is your wave start, is it in the open ocean or at the lake. try to know the bike course, google it, and imagine those climbs, descend, and turns, imagine how do you gonna pace your self. then on the run remember to not give up, your nutrition, and hydration.
you can repeat that as much as you want. the purpose of this, is to memorized what you're doing on the race day. so you don't get confuse and not knowing what you're doing because you nervous, exhausted, or whatever.
Practice your transition
Transition
is your fourth discipline. In training, try to practice your transition. Out of the water, put off the swim cap and goggles. Remember what to wear before bike, like bib number, helmet, sunglasses. And you can put your gel on your bike. Then off the bike, do not forget to put off your helmet, and put on your running socks. practice all these so your transition can be comfortable and fast, as sometimes triathlete get confuse on what to do and where the bike is.
Plan your meal and race nutrition
if some people do vegan diet or low carbo, it doesn't mean it would fit your training regime. I suggest that you can eat whatever home made, less fried meals, coffee before training, more water, more vegies, rice is good carbs as it is produce energy, chocolate milk is good after training to replenish sore muscle, don't forget your protein such eggs and chicken breast. But to me, whatever my mom's cooked is good for me. so eat a good healthy meal on training days, repeat it until your race day.
one more thing, if you're planning on taking gels on race day, please practice on training regularly so your body get used to those substances. if you never try any gels then on the race day you tried, i bet those gels not gonna do any good for you, your body would not be ready to digest all those nutrition.
Do not try new gear on the race day
if you bought a new tri suit or socks at expo on the race day, do not wear it by tomorrow. your body will not be ready for those tightness. you can get blister out of it. you can buy and try new thing weeks before your race day, and use it once in awhile in training just for the feeling of it.
Relax on your taper days
on this days, usually coach give less training than usual. Please try to be relax on taper, you can watch movie, reading books, sketching, or anything that not wasting so much energy. also you have to manage your diet, dont eat to much and not less either. it's okay to gain weight a little, those food can produce energy on your race day. try not to worry about your race, to me, less training more energy.
Ready on the Race day
as an athlete, i am not a fan of training, I love racing and compete with others. In the D-day, I don't think. i do everything on the automatic mode, because i practice and visualized a lot. I think about myself, i dont worry on what i can not control, such as weather, traffic, flat tire, but keep my mind ready for any possibilities. it is better to know my enemies for arranging my strategy but not think too much of them.
As the race going, I swim really fast, then along the bike course I pray to God to keep me save, as it is the only thing that matters, and on the run i give it all out. All i could say is, you are what you repeatedly do, so do good and be fast on training days, because hard works always paid off.
I hope you enjoy your race day, it is a celebration of your training. No matter the outcome, your coach, friends, and families are super proud of your achievement. But please remember in every race it should be safety first, fair play, and fun along the way.
