I (Jen) am writing this article because I know a lot of you may be like me and sometimes your training doesn't go as planned. I signed up for an Xterra triathlon, which is an off-road triathlon that starts with a mountain lake swim (that means cold) , continues with a 24K mountain bike ride and ends with a 7K trail run.

When I signed up, I thought these distances would not be that bad in comparing them to the on-road triathlons I have done. However, I did not factor in the race being at 9,000 feet in elevation, the 2,000 feet of elevation gain or the technical nature of the bike and run courses. After pre-riding the course, I realized that it will take me about 30 to 45 minutes longer to finish than I had anticipated. Turns out winging it isn't going to be as easy as I thought or maybe not even possible.

In preparing my race strategy, I realized that I could share some tactics on how to race or complete an event when you are under-trained and/or frankly just downright scared of the impending doom.

» Pace yourself: I cannot overstate how important it is to conserve your matches. A match is a term used within the cycling world that refers to a hard effort where you have to dig deep and really push yourself.

Why do you need to know what a match is? As a cyclist, runner or any endurance athlete, you start out the day with a full set of matches (hopefully) in your matchbook and every time you go hard, hammer over a hill or pass someone, you burn one of your matches. We all have a different number of matches and when you are less fit you have even fewer but nobody has an infinite number.

It's important to burn your matches at the right time during a race or in training. Otherwise you will be left with an empty matchbook and your chances of performing well will been drastically reduced. Burn all your matches before the end of the race and you may find you cannot even finish. Let's hope this is not the case for me.

» Hydrate: When you are already going to be pushing the limit when it comes to your fitness, you cannot afford to be dehydrated. Dehydration impairs temperature ting slows, cooling slows and that places stress on the cardiovascular system. Fluid loss of as low as 2 percent of body weight, which equates to 3 pounds in a 150-pound person, impairs temperature regulation and reduces endurance capacity and aerobic performance - things you can't afford to lose if you are already pushing the boundaries of your fitness.

» Eat and monitor your heart rate: The best way to prevent bonking during a long effort is to consume adequate calories and keep you heart rate at 50 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. This will enable your body to use fat as primary fuel source rather than glucose. For race intensity and duration, you could need an additional 100-200 calories per hour. It is important to plan for this and bring easy-to-consume and digest calories.

If you eat, hydrate and pace yourself, you can go further than you think. Wish me luck and check in next week for my full race report.