4 Days Until Nationals

The weather forcast for Sunday is a low of 32 and a high of 57 in Incline Village NV. That means it will probably be around 40 the morning of the race when we dip our feet in the frigid waters of Lake Tahoe. According to the Xterra message board, the trails by Marlette Lake are covered in snow. This should be fun, and by fun I mean painful. You gotta love these extreme triathlons. I train half the year in conditions much worse than this so this race won't throw any suprises at me. What I wear will be crucial to my race day performance. I don't want to wear too little and go hypothermic on the mountain descents, but i also don't want to be overdressed and be too hot on the long arduous climbs. Do I wear leg warmers, tights, or just shorts? How will I keep my core warm? Do I go with the winter gloves and winter shoes on the bike? These are all questions that can have a major impact on race performance. Today i experimented to see how quickly my tights would dry. Before I went for a ride I sprayed my legs down with the hose. It really sucked for the first ten to fifteen minutes of the ride, but after that the tights started to dry and I warmed up. They passed the test, so I think I will wear tights under my wetsuit. Now I need to figure out what Jersey to wear. I heard that at the Tour de France, they stuff newspapers under the jersey for wind protection and heat retention on cold mountain passes. Maybe I'll try that.