My only corollary to this race is my last ironman in Florida, or as I like to call it, "One the top three best vacations and weeks of my life." Just head over to Taconite Boy's blog for a righteous video he took and I am forever grateful for. I felt totally alive, in the moment and completely self aware.
Last night I didn't sleep well, couple hours tops. Not from anxiety but post nasal drip. Bastard. I don't think its a cold since the wind is gusting at 20-40 mph and particulates are in the air but its a buzz kill. Being Mr. Positive though, I got out of bed at the same time I will on race morning (0345) and went about a practiced plan of collecting what I needed to get out the door for the actual race. I ate what I will eat, did what I will do and things look good.
Long day today. I already mentioned not much sleep and at 0700 I will meet Big John and another teammate Todd, for the Gatorade swim. Todd is doing his first IM and has a solid shot at a sub-10 race which gives him the Kona slot he wants. We have trained together for three seasons now and he is part of the tight group of pals I train with. He just gets done a lot faster than me, so its a lot of "See you in X amount of hours. Have fun." But he was always there for me. Last summer when the group planned 56 mile bikes and I needed 100 and the temperature was going to be 110 degrees that day, Todd was always there in the parking lot at 0400 putting his stuff together because, as he would say, "AZ TRI CLUB, doesn't ride alone. We're there every stroke, pedal and step for each other."
After the swim, a bit of work, then back down to the expo for more swag, I mean registration. Then back to work, then hopefully meet some triathlete's in town for the race, fellow bloggers. My dad had hip replacement surgery Tuesday at the VA so I am going to try to make it there to see him and perhaps talk to some troops injured in the Global War On Terror. I hope I can do that. Work some more. Then at 7 pm is a Mental Preparation seminar at Tribe Multisport for the race from a sport head doc.
This is not necessarily how a triathlete should taper for a big race, its certainly not the schedule I had in Florida. But this race is much different than that one. While I was fully engaged in Ironman in Florida...here I am semi-conscious.
Last night I didn't sleep well, couple hours tops. Not from anxiety but post nasal drip. Bastard. I don't think its a cold since the wind is gusting at 20-40 mph and particulates are in the air but its a buzz kill. Being Mr. Positive though, I got out of bed at the same time I will on race morning (0345) and went about a practiced plan of collecting what I needed to get out the door for the actual race. I ate what I will eat, did what I will do and things look good.
Long day today. I already mentioned not much sleep and at 0700 I will meet Big John and another teammate Todd, for the Gatorade swim. Todd is doing his first IM and has a solid shot at a sub-10 race which gives him the Kona slot he wants. We have trained together for three seasons now and he is part of the tight group of pals I train with. He just gets done a lot faster than me, so its a lot of "See you in X amount of hours. Have fun." But he was always there for me. Last summer when the group planned 56 mile bikes and I needed 100 and the temperature was going to be 110 degrees that day, Todd was always there in the parking lot at 0400 putting his stuff together because, as he would say, "AZ TRI CLUB, doesn't ride alone. We're there every stroke, pedal and step for each other."
After the swim, a bit of work, then back down to the expo for more swag, I mean registration. Then back to work, then hopefully meet some triathlete's in town for the race, fellow bloggers. My dad had hip replacement surgery Tuesday at the VA so I am going to try to make it there to see him and perhaps talk to some troops injured in the Global War On Terror. I hope I can do that. Work some more. Then at 7 pm is a Mental Preparation seminar at Tribe Multisport for the race from a sport head doc.
This is not necessarily how a triathlete should taper for a big race, its certainly not the schedule I had in Florida. But this race is much different than that one. While I was fully engaged in Ironman in Florida...here I am semi-conscious.
5 comments:
It still sounds like you are living the IM experience once again.
I will be looking forward to following your progress this weekend.
Good luck!
Semi-conscious might be better in some ways...!!
Enjoy every bit of it!! Good plan to get your body clock set to 3:45 wakeups, as long as you're going to sleep very very early. Tonight is your key sleep night before the race - make good use of it! And trim your toenails again! :-)
love that 'AZ TRI CLUB doesn't ride alone' -- really hits home.
i've seen you in action my brothah, when your face hits the water on Sunday, you will be locked and loaded, and ready for Charlie Mike!
Take a soldier's name along with you on the route. We are all very fortunate we have those who are willing to serve.
You'll still kick ass. Hope your pop fares well.
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