Saturday, 30 April 2016

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….

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