The night before the pain...

It’s the night before race day so I guess it is time to write something up before tomorrow. After that I might forget everything that has happened. I can already feel the pain.

Wednesday.. I left you wishing I could go for a ride but it was grey and wet. Well that didn’t last long so as soon as I could I got out for that ride. I followed the start of the course. I have to remember not to take off as fast as I can but to take my time. It’s a little hilly at the start of this ride. Making it to the dreaded Matthew Flinders drive hill I stopped to have a look. Yes it is steep and yes it is going to hurt. I made sure I had a go and did make it up. Coming home will be nice once you pass that hill. That was pretty much it for the day. I just walked around town and watched everything get setup.

Thursday.. Registration day. We decided to registration first thing in the morning before giving any crowds a chance to build up. As usual I put a good dent in the visa at the ironman shop and purchased some ride gear to use in the race. Let’s hope there are no annoying threads to dig into me. We got to look around the expo and also attend the athletes briefing. Later that night we attended a seminar about coping with the mental struggles in an ironman. It was ok to listen to.

Friday..  The day started early with a swim in the river. Nice to make sure that the wetsuit feels good and to turn the arms over. The water was warm, brown and shallow. Not too bad a swim but not really able to do a lot of test sighting as the course is a bit of a dog leg. The rest of the day was relaxing and eating as usual. That night we attended the welcome dinner. They put on a good show and I did get a surprise to see my name listed on the big screens as part of my AWA status.

Today was bike and gear check-in day. So I had one last chance to go through all my transition bags to make sure I have what I need for the day. We then went and dropped off our bikes and completed the transition tour. Seems pretty simple and as I will be following the person in front I should be ok. Once again the rest of the day was relaxing….. All there is to do now is lay out all my swim gear for the morning and set alarms.

Tomorrow morning will be a 3:45am start. Wake up, get dressed and put on the race tattoos. Strap my timing chip to my leg and then have breakfast. I hope to leave here by about 4:30am to give me heaps of time to get into transition and do a final bike check. Well this is it. Time to do this thing I guess….

Start of race week

Well race week is upon us. The last training weeks have been a little more bearable. I still had to put hours in. A 100km ride here or there, a bunch of 10km runs and some 2km swims. But all up it was a lot more enjoyable. Getting closer to the race I start to judge everything that I do. Not always a good idea as you start to get doubts that you are ready. I am sure that no matter how ready I am I will get through it but will I live up to my own expectations and others. I don’t know. Oh well I will just have a go and see where I am when I get to the run. I know if I make it to that in good condition I can push myself. If not I will just cry myself to the finish. Haha

Looking back at this year’s training I guess I can see a few differences the second time around. Motivation to get out there and do it is a lot harder the second time around. The first IM I was so scared about not getting through it that thought really pushed me to train hard. This time I have a belief that I can make it. Training when it is wet and miserable just didn’t really happen. There was a couple of runs in the wet but generally if it was raining heavily I would stay indoors. The first time I would go out no matter the conditions. The long swims and runs were actually easier this time. I found it easier to just get into a rhythm and keep going. I don’t think I am any faster but I can push to go further. So that’s a positive. I found rides still hurt. Maybe as some of the long ones included terrible head winds I don’t know or maybe I am just no good a riding but it still hurt and makes my worry the most about this race.

Injury wise I feel a lot better than I did last year. I do have a couple of small pains here and there but nothing that I think will slow me down. I know I will get pains on race day but this year I am not dealing with anything that worries me I might not finish because of. So that is definitely a positive. Shame also as I will have nothing to blame if it all goes to crap. I should be really working out all my excuses now. Haha

Last Monday I packed all my bags. Its good to race close to home. You can pack so many more things. I have basically packed double my normal gear. That way I can't be caught out missing or breaking something pre-race. Sure my car looked like I have packed for a 6 month trip but I have room so I will fill it. I gave the bike a good clean and checked it one more time that it was working as expected. Not much more to do.

Tuesday the car was packed and after the peak hour traffic cleared we headed off. The drive is about 4.5hrs from home. The drive is rather boring as there is not a lot to look at. The apartment is nice. Has lots of room and everything I need for the week. With not much going on it was a good day to buy food and watch tv. The weather started out well. Warm but not overly hot. Then we had a few showers in the afternoon before it cleared.

Waking up today it has been raining overnight and looks grey and sad. I was hoping to go for a ride out to the famous hill that everyone talks about. I have seen it last year on foot but never tried to ride up it. Only being 8kms from here I thought it would make an easy ride. I might just drive the course instead. It’s too late to ride in the rain and fall off. Haha