Butterflies...

...have taken over my stomach.

Tomorrow is my first race of the season, and I'm absurdly nervous. Why? I'm not sure. I know I've gotten a lot faster, but I'm willing to bet that everyone else has as well. This is a tiny local race. My coach doesn't see this as a big race; he has me training through it, but I'm still sweaty-palms, knotty-stomach nervous.

See, it's the same race I did last year as my first tri ever, so I'll have some real, concrete, same-course comparisons to use to measure my speed. Which is good.

But last year, I just went into these races thinking that if I didn't panic or drown on the swim, fall off the bike, or have an asthma attack on the run, it would be a good race. And fortunately, every race was a good race. This year is different. This year I think I can actually be competitive, especially at the shorter distances, and that has created a huge knot in my stomach. I also feel like I'll have a target on my back, since I'll be on my sweet new bike (whoo-hoo!) and wearing sponsor gear.

I know I have to race my own race. I've set time goals for myself, and if I meet those goals, I should do pretty well based on last year's results. Yeah, I know, you never know who is going to show up, and how fast they've gotten, but I'm hoping that my increases in speed from last year to this year prove to be pretty good. I've put the time in and done the training, and now I just have to trust my training and put my head down and go. Right?