Motivation

I haven't done that particular race, but I am assuming that it is fairly hilly and an open water swim.  If true, another thing you may want to consider is doing one of the winter/early spring local sprints (Goodyear YMCA, Generations Tri in Surprise) to get yourself back into the swing of things and get your confidence back. 

Of course, open water swim practice is another essential if Fountain to Mountain is in open water.  There is a big group on the East Side of Phoenix that does weekly open water swims at Saguaro Lake - they are a great group and very welcoming.  If you can work one of their sessions into your schedule, it would be very worthwhile.  Details can be found on the Arizona forum.  

I will also highly recommend logging your workouts on BT.  It allows you to see where you are and how far you've come, which is great for motivation.  Also, others from the site, including your new Athena and Clydesdale friends , can check in with you and send notes to inspire you on your progress. 

By the way, welcome to BT, and best of luck!!!

Can you sign up as a team for the race? That might be a fun way to start the season, and then you are accountable to someone else.  Either way, get signed up and log your workouts on here!!  Send inspires, post in the forums......stay involved.

Leslie (my name, too)

I agree with what the others said.  Find you an A race, then work backwards.  Pick a BT plan, put the race day in your training log, and it'll give you something to do every day.  I signed up for all my A races in November/December so there was no excuse for not working out during the holidays, since my BT log actually e-mails me every evening to tell me what I have to do in the morning.  I LOVE THIS BT SITE!!  I also hired a coach ... a cool lady I met on this site last year who finished CdA last year ... to motivate and/or advise and/or be accountable to.  It's really just a matter of wanting it that much.  The terror of arriving at the starting line for IMAZ in Nov. is keeping me on my toes.  Best of luck to you!

There is an aquabike I want to do later in the spring, and I have a history with this race: it is the only race I was swept off the course and didn't finish. Major trauma. So I want to try again and get through it, but I am feeling a little trepidation about it. Maybe paralyzing fear would be a better way of putting it..."

My first Oly I was last out of the water, last off the bike and finished last in the run about 3-4 minutes after the 2nd to last finished with an ambulance following me playing leap frog the whole time. Race is great, but the memories are tough and mixed. 

Next year I did it and improved an hour and didn't finish last. I did it again in '07 and improved another 22 minutes but didn't enjoy it much and a strange panic issue in the water.

I figured the water was similar temps '05 and '07 ie cold and in '07 brought back bad memories from '05. I worked a whole year trying to get that I was last monkey off my back it worked.

This year I'm not doing it as I race for fun, and there are to many mixed up emotions at that race.

I just shared what happened to me so you can enjoy your '08 races and not have the same experience I did.