The long and winding road, that leads, to race day

Takes a train, plane and a car, it’s a long ways away

With a 7-hour time zone leap, I’m so jet-lagged today!

Rotterdam’s wild, windy and “raw,” seriously blew me away

I had to chase my luggage down, it nearly got away

But now we’ve gotten here, I’m excited to race. Hooray!

1. Today starts like so many of my days: at the CompuTrainer studio with Coach Chris. However, because it’s taper time, that means I DON’T have to give every ounce today. Just some good 5-10 minutes burst of sub-threshold work.

2. More chocolate and bubbly. Until after the race on Sunday, grape Nuun is going to be as close as I get to champagne.

3. Uber to O’Hare! Normally, I’d take the CTA, but neither John nor I felt like hauling our massive bags.

4. Safely at O’Hare, we finally realize that we’re wearing matching shirts … oops!

5. Race day dragons know the importance of hydration. See that guilt-inducing stare? They’re trying to remind me to drink!

6. And also sleep once I get on the plane. They’ve joined forces with my neck pillow. (Seriously, did I just accidentally match everything today? This is getting weird!)

7. Melatonin helps induce sleep. John and I plan to try and sleep on the plane to try and shift our sleep schedules over to Rotterdam time. That means going to bed at 7 p.m.! We’ll need all the help we can get.

8. Plane food is plain food. (OK, it’s actually not that bad! John had a pretty good cheese tortellini and was kind enough to share.)

9. Sleep! At last!

10. Breakfast!

11. Second breakfast and second coffee. It’s 10 a.m., which means it’s been 4 hours since our last breakfast. And another round of coffee is necessary just to stay upright.

12. Cars, planes and TRAINS! Our adventure wouldn’t be complete without a third form of transportation. Fortunately, the train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam is quiet, fast and runs really frequently.

13. Coffee No. 3. Despite our best efforts, we only slept 4-5 hours last night. And noon in Rotterdam is 2 a.m. in Chicago. We are really, really dragging.

14. But we made it!!!!! The race is really coming and I’m super excited to race. This is better than chocolate or peanut butter or even chocolate AND peanut butter together.

Read more from Jacquie in “A Day in the Life.” Learn more about the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final and World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, at rotterdam.triathlon.org.