Race day arrived and I was very ready to race. Since it gets light a bit later there, race morning wasn’t a super early wake up call. I think we got up around 5:15 a.m. to get ready and head down toward the race venue. Water temperature was reading at 61 degrees, and the air temp was only 55 degrees. This made me happy and just told myself the water would feel warm compared to the chill in the air.

Jason arrived in Cambridge, Maryland on Wednesday, four days before race day. This allowed him to settle in after two days of driving, and have a low stress week to get his workouts in and rest and relax while not working out.

The ending of triathlon season should be a joyous time. Don’t think of it as the off-season, but as an opportunity to try new things and exercise in different ways than you could during the peak of race season. In fact, I would say it is good for your mental health to turn off the triathlon training and focus on different types of exercise for a couple of months. Below I’ve listed out some great cross training alternatives to help you through the winter and leave you feeling strong and excited about the next triathlon training and racing season.

The last few weeks we have been trying to use up every available training hour he has in between work and work travel. He has had a couple 14 hour training weeks, which has been really good for him. His final preparation has been getting very race specific as we dial in race power for the bike, and race pace for the run. Here is a look at a key session in the swim, the bike, and the run.