Cold winter days

Its been cold outside and its hard to get motivated. Anyway the plan is in and I have started running through it. Nothing big at the moment. Actually dropped the running back at the moment which is ok by me as I have been getting treatment for my foot issue. Coach wants to focus on the bike for a while. Swimming is still going well. Not long sessions, only around 1.5km a few times a week. I have also started to use the gym more than before. I want to get into the habit of actually going this time around. Lets see how long that lasts as the gym is not that interesting really.

As far as the foot issue goes I have been fitted with some off the shelf inserts. It seems that I roll my foot inwards on the left side and drop my left hip as I step. I think the physio was telling me I am weak as piss without actually saying it. So with the inserts and some exercises to strengthen both the hip and foot she hopes we can be good. If not we might have to look at more expensive custom inserts. But so far they are ok. I think I am getting better but as I haven't run as much who knows.

Last weekend I got to head out to the multi sport expo. It was the first year it was run. It was pretty small but I hope that they get bigger as the idea is really good. Not enough accessories people which was strange as I assumed they would be over that sort of thing. Maybe having a stand was to expensive or something. Anyway I did pick up some wireless headphones. They seem to be pretty good.

Well 10 months to go now. Fun times ahead.

The training plan

So the last few weeks a couple things have happened. Non training related was my first dirt bike in a long time. That wasn't too bad. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. We spent the night in the bush camping. I woke up to ice on everything but a great looking day. Was fun getting back out there and it looks like I will be out there again this weekend.

On the training front I spent last week just keeping fit and working with the physio on my foot issue. She has decided that I should get some orthotics to help with some rolling that I do while running. I also drop my hip on the left side as I run so I will need to strengthen that up as well. Apart from all that I have been rolling, taping, stretching and exercising as she requested.

Over the weekend I dropped in to see my coach and talk about the plan. We discussed all my races coming up and my goals. With that he has created my first couple of weeks of my real plan so it has officially started again. So far so good. I also received my plan from the gym's PT. I will try to keep up the gym work a bit more this time. I just need to make it part of my schedule and it should work out. The only issue I see so right now is the 4:30am start to get to the gym while it is so cold outside. Not fun but that's ok.

I also did my first outside ride in a long time on the weekend. It was just short of 50km and it hurt more than I wanted but I got through it. The body just needs to get used to it again.

Pre training plan days

This week has been an easy week. I got to have a long weekend so that's always nice. But what else has happened. Well I went to see a physio on Friday. While she did not know what was actually going on with my foot issue we have decided to treat it like plantar fasciitis. She taped the foot up which seemed to help a bit so maybe we are on the right path. I have another appointment to see her today so we will see what is said about that. For now I am not allowed to run.

With that news I have been swimming and doing a lot of riding on the new trainer. Its not bad. Hurts like you would not believe as you don't get any real coasting time as you do on the road but I guess that's a good thing. If I keep it up I might be a stronger rider yet. It was always hard to get motivated to be on a stationary bike but so far this new trainer has help. On the IM training front I am still waiting for the plan to be done. I know it is underway as we have entered in events we wish to do etc. I am still deciding on a couple yet. Guess it all depends on money and time. Apart from that I have had a couple of weeks with a personal trainer thanks to my gym. Its just the free program that you get when you join. The guy seems good. First week was a fitness and mechanics type of session. Nothing to hard but annoying enough. This week he showed me a bunch of things that would be in the plan he is making. It really smashed me. I might be able to swim, bike and run ok but I just can't lift. I would say I lift like a girl but I am sure there are a lot of girls that would lift better than me. Guess I will try to keep up with that this year also and hope that it helps.

One cool thing that happened. Well I think its cool as I didn't know what to do with all my stuff otherwise was I got all my IM NZ stuff framed. Well its back now and I think it worked out pretty sweet.

So that's my NZ one. Now I need to do Port Mac next year and get another one made up.

1st week of winter

So its been a slow week. Just keeping fit as much as I can. I haven't done a lot of stuff. A swim and run is mostly what I have done. Although I have a new toy. I found a Wahoo Kickr on ebay.

Sure its kind of hard to see in my bad image but its a nice trainer. So this weekend I picked it up and started playing around with software. Firstly it was created for apple in mind. So being an android person there are not as many apps available. But I believe recently they changed some things that allowed more people to write applications on a wide range of platforms which means that while apple has that market share there are more applications coming to compete.

After needing to use the Wahoo app to set it up I then started playing with whatever people suggested. Using an old ANT+ dongle I had from my old Garmin watch I could then connect an old PC to the kickr and have it control the resistance. It makes for a tough ride. Unfortunately I could only find one program that would allow me to trial the video training feature. That was kind of fun. I did mess up and selected riding around San Fran. Those streets are tough so it makes it hard to look at the shops go by remembering where you have been when your struggling up the hills. Near the top I remember thinking how much easier it was going up that hill on the tram. haha

Well I believe that I have decided on the application to use. BKool make what seems to be a nice product. You can easily import gpx tracks from your previous rides and it will make a virtual 3d track from it. Or if you are really keen you can use video and GPS to create a video track. I have already uploaded a couple of gpx files of old rides to see how it works and although I could only see the map and elevation not the 3d world it did make riding a trainer more interesting. So I will probably pay for that subscription so I can use the 3d side of things.

On the coach side of things I have found one. It actually wasn't the guy I was thinking of last week. I had a friend Mike who raced NZ with me. Well since he has had to give up running because of knee issues he said if I am looking for a coach then he is happy to do it. He used to coach me when I first started. He didn't coach me for the NZ IM as he was competing and didn't have time. So I know what he is like and it should work out well.

So now I just wait for the first plan to hit my Dropbox and we will be off.

Ironman 2.0

Ok so I had a crazy moment and signed up again. I don't know what I was thinking. Well actually I do. Adam after completing his IM in Port Macquarie won free entry into next years event. Since I had been saying one day we need to do an IM together I suppose I really needed to keep to my work and also sign up. So here we are for another year. Yay I think.. Hmm

I don't have much planned yet. Just two races booked in. The Western Sydney 70.3 on November 29th 2015 and Ironman Australia on May 1st 2016. I still have time to work the rest out. I am looking at the Husky long course which is in March but we will see what the coach suggests.

On the coaching side of things it looks like I need to find a new one. My old coach is not available for some of the training this time round and doesn't want to affect my training so my first task is to find a new coach. I have someone in mind so we will see how that goes.

Right now I am just trying to stay fit. I don't want it to have to be a hard slog to get back into it so I try to keep running and swimming. I haven't been on the bike much but I should do that more soon. So for those interested I will continue to write about my IM life in this blog.

Race day..

Well Friday night sleeping was a waste of time. Went to bed around 10pm and up at 1am.  Watched the back of my eyelids until about 3am then decided I may as well get up and have something to eat. A couple of bananas and some toast with Vegemite later and the others alarms were going off to get up. We got dressed and headed to the start at 5am.

Overnight we had wrapped part of our bike and helmets in plastic to keep them dry so that morning our first task was to take that off and give them a final check. With that done we left transition and headed to the swim start. The weather was cold and cloudy with a little breeze. The water was flat which was what we wanted. We found a spot to change into our wetsuits and handed our gear bags to Dee. A tip I can give is not to give your friend your gear bag. Check it in as it will get it back as soon as you get to medical and when you can’t find your friend after the race it means you have warm clothes to change into. But enough of that for now. The crowds had shown up and the Maori guys came in on a traditional boat to welcome us. The atmosphere was good but you could tell everyone was fairly quiet and concentrating on the day ahead. At 6:45am the professional males started followed but the pro females a minute later. With them out of the way we all headed through the timing gate to check us into the water. I found a position to the left edge of the group. Not too far out but far enough that I wasn't directly in the washing machine that was about to start up. The water was cold which I later found was colder closer to where I was than over near the buoys. With the 3min countdown announced I made sure I had my watch set and I was ready to go. With the sound of the canon we were off.

I had a good start. Not too fast and no one bashing into me. I slowly started to move in closer to the pack as we headed up the course but keeping my distance so I didn't get tangled in and bashing around. The swim course was a 1.75km straight swim. Then a right hand turn and about 100m till another right hand turn. Then 1.75km back before making the last right hand turn and 200m swim back to shore. The water was amazingly clear. You hear people say on other swims how clear the water is when you can see a murky image underwater. In lake Taupo it was like a pool. You could see for ages. It did give you something to look at while you swam. Only problem I had is that I want to turn left all the time. I think that if I closed my eyes and just swam I would make a nice big left hand circle and end up where I started. Every time I looked up to sight I was off target and moving away from the pack. Well I guess that's better than running into people all the time. As the swim went on the pack thinned out. I found I was swimming on my own by the last buoy. I headed across the timing mat and had a slow 400m jog along the road and up the stairs into the transition area. I grabbed my bag and headed into the change area.

T1 was my first debacle. I had decided to change into some bike shorts for the ride. They had more padding and I wanted to feel comfortable. I wasn't worried about the T1 time as I knew I had all day. All the volunteers were eager to help you strip off and help you dress if you liked. As I was doing a full change I thought I had this. I don’t really need help. So the female helper just waited and watched until someone else came along. First thing was the wetsuit. Yep all good with part one. I dumped all my clothes on the ground and grabbed my towel.  Stripped off the top part of my tri suit and dried off as much as I could. I put my ride shirt on and took the rest of my gear off. I picked up my bike pants and went to throw them on. This is when I found was that it’s not so easy to get bike pants on when you are a little damp. The rubber around the legs sticks nicely and the material just stretches. So here I am half nude struggling to pull my pants up past my knees. It must have made a wonderful sight for the helpers. Oh and yes the water was cold that I had just been swimming in for last hour. Haha. Finally I had my pants on so I grabbed my shoes. I went to step back and sit down to put them on and I hear crack. Oh no whats that. I had stomped on my glasses. The arm had broken off and can’t be fixed. I remembered the beginners seminar where the presenter had said things will go wrong and just cope with it. Well I had my first two issues in T1 and it was still early in the day. I put them aside and left the change area. Picked up the bike and helmet and headed out of transition. Sure I was annoyed about my T1 time but I knew I was well ahead of the time I had wanted to have this part done in so I was still happy.

To get a little side tracked I did have a couple of goals I would have loved to have hit. The first was just to finish no matter what. Second was to try to get around the twelve hour mark. I assumed 2hrs for the swim, 6hrs for the bike and 4hrs for the run. Now I knew a 2hr swim was very slow so that’s where I knew I had transition and other time to move around and still make the time. The swim I had done in 1:06 and with a slow transition I should have been about the 1:18 mark. So I was up. Woohoo.

The bike started off well. I was trying not to go to fast out of the gates but the excitement of it all doesn't help. The rain started to come down and the wind had picked up. As we climbed up the first hill to get out of town the fog was still around and it was looking to be a crappy cold ride. The first hill is about a 4km climb to the top and then a 6km decent. It only has a couple of steep parts so most of it is just grinding away. It was nice to hit the 6km downhill section though. Once over the hill there was nothing exciting really. I kept thinking that this is really just like home with bumpy roads. The wind was in our face all the way out to the turnaround point. The bike course was two laps. Basically directly out and back. Nothing special or interesting to keep your mind off it. The road just kept going and going. You see the road turn and think yeah it must be around the corner but no just another straight full of bikes riding out. It did feel nice when I made it to the turnaround with the wind behind your back. Finally you were able to pick up some pace again. The hill climb on the way in was pretty easy I thought and I passed a heap of people every rise we came to. I didn't know if this was a good or bad thing but I kept going. At this stage the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. It was starting to get hot. In town the crowds had picked up and the support was wonderful. Unfortunately I had to do it all again. This lap the wind had picked up and it was like I couldn't get the bike moving. All the way to the turnaround point was a struggle but people were not powering past me so I knew it wasn't just me fading away. Turning around was great. Once again the wind helped. That didn't last long as it soon became a cross wind. I was getting frustrated that I was still on the bike and not seeming to make much progress. I thought I needed to go to the bathroom and while I could have done the triperson pee as you go technique I decided that getting off the bike for a couple of minutes would help me collect my thoughts and not have a meltdown. 30km from home I found a toilet and got off. I knew in my head 30km was not far so getting on and finishing this stage was going to be done. With that out of the way I headed off. About 20km from home the nice cross wind we had became a head wind and it got a little stronger. Lucky I was close to home and kept on going. 6:01 after the start of the bike I was in town and into T2. I was sore but happy to have that behind me.

T2 was more of the same. I had decided to do a full change for the run. I knew my socks would be wet and rank from the ride so a change of clothes would feel like heaven. Then in walks another debacle. I have a nice old man helping me and talking to me about how my day is going as I am unpacking my gear. When I grab my shirt I find that it is soaked. Not just a little wet but I am talking it could have been sitting in a swimming pool over night. Then I noticed all my gear was the same. I assume it was on the ground and the overnight rain had caused a puddle to get into the gear tent. So here I am getting out of wet bike clothes and putting on even wetter run gear. Great. Wet socks and shoes as well. The helper was all concerned if I would be ok but I just smiled and said it’s all good. I mean it would have to be as I had no other option.

I ran out of T2 annoyed but feeling ok. I mean how good was I going to feel at this stage anyway. I guess I felt good. It was nice that the sun was out as the top half of me dried reasonably quickly but the shoes and socks never did dry up. The run started well. I had a thought that if I got through 10km’s then I am a quarter of the way through. Sure I wasn’t really as its 42.2km’s but hey in my mind it was easier to calculate it on 40km’s and the last 2.2 doesn't matter much when you get that close. I was doing a great pace at the start of the run. Splits were around the 5:30 per km. I knew that was faster than I had planned but I felt great and thought lets just keep going and get some time under my belt before I fall apart which I assumed I would at some stage. The crowds around town were also helping as they call your name out and cheer you on to keep going. About 1km into the run I see Mike sitting in the gutter. We chat as I run past but I don’t get much out of him. I didn't know if he was out or what. Sure I could have stopped to help but I was on a mission and going well. Drink stations were 2.5km’s apart and I made the 5km mark strong. After that it got harder. The sun was really heating the place up and I remember thinking that Taupo was not supposed to be a hot run. This is going to suck. But I was dry at least. Well apart from my shoes. I had felt a few moments where I had a cramp coming on but I was taking my tablets and it seemed to be working. The only other issue I had was my foot pain. Right now it was not bad but I had never run this distance so who knows what could happen. Soon I made it the 10km’s I wanted and was happy to be that far though. But the run became a run / walk from aid station to aid station. The run course was a three lap deal. There was a few hills around but nothing crazy although they seemed tough by the last lap. Heading back to town you followed a path along the waters edge and with the wind blowing it was a hard slog. Close to town the crowds were bigger and that really did help keep you going. With lap one down I was off on lap two.

Once again as I was in the crowd I could keep going for a while before I needed a rest. I would take it as a reward. If I had a nice long run section I got a good little walk. By this time I had had enough of the gels and was eating fruit mostly and drinking water. When I walked I would try to keep some pace and just refocus my thoughts before starting again. About a third of the way around lap two the rain started and it was heavy. I was soaked and cold again. The wind was now blowing hard and the rain made it very unpleasant. I found a poncho at the aid station near the end of lap two. It must have looked funny as the poor girl trying to put it on me was struggling and I guess as I was so wet it did not help. But me managed and I was off to start lap three.

Not far into lap three the rain stopped and I thought it looked like it might stay away this time. Just windy is better than wet and windy. I soon found the poncho too hot to have on so I handed that back and kept running. I was running as much as I could and making goals as I went along. I knew on lap three that I was close to my time goal but probably over. I was ok with that but I thought that if I pushed I would get close. So I had a little chant of “how much do you want this?” going on in my head. It did help to keep me running longer than I had in lap two. Soon I caught up with Jacinda and we had a chat and short walk together before I took off again. My foot was in real pain and I was wondering how long until the tablets stopped keeping the cramping away. At the far aid station I took my last tablets and hoped that would do me till the end. Then the rain started again. Damn it. I didn't want to wear a poncho in my finishers photo and with only three aid stations to go I decided I would just live with the cold and wet. The last aid station I was never going to stop at as it was 200m from the finish line anyway. I was pushing myself and calculated the time and hoped that my foot would not blow up. When I made it to the 40km sign that I had been eyeing off the previous laps I was ecstatic. I knew I was going to be able to drag myself home and if I pushed enough I would be very close to my 12hr goal. I would not beat it but I would be close. The 40km mark was also the start of town. Sure it was wet and most people had left the outskirts of town but there were a few wonderful supporters out there still cheering everyone on. The rain had stopped again or was just a sprinkle. I jogged up the main road on top of the world. I looked behind me and didn't see anyone close. I was not worried about being passed I just wanted to get a good finisher photo with no one else in the shot. Also to hear your name being called out individually would be good. To get to the finish you went past the run turn and up the road another 50m along a chute before doing a left turn and onto the red carpet. The crowds where built up most of the way around that cheering and congratulating you as you go. I was giving anyone a high five that wanted one. I turned the last turn and looked at the red carpet. Some guy ahead of me was hugging family and making his way in so I slowed a little to give him his moment as well. Then I jogged down to the finish. I heard my name. Well a bad pronunciation of my last name but still he did say Stefan Jankowski you are and IRONMAN!! I crossed the line and felt wonderful that I had done it.

Officially in 12:07:21. Sure it was a slow marathon but I couldn't have been happier. I left everything I had out there. I dent a little but did not break. I was greeted by two nice volunteers who gave me my medal and finisher towel then helped me into medical. I don’t know if I looked bad or what but they did seem very concerned if I was ok. Maybe its just what they have to do. I was walked in and weighed. I had lost 2kg which they said was good so I didn't need any special attention. 2kg for all that is not an easy weight loss program. Plus I think I put all that on with the food I have eaten today and maybe even a bit extra. From medical it was off to collect your black bag and finisher shirt. Hmm oh yeah Dee had my bag. I did see her at the finish line with my bike that she had collected. I was hoping that she had my bag of warm clothes with her as I was shivering. First thing I did was to grab a chocolate milk and sit down. Oh what a great feeling that was. I wrapped my towel around me and tried to get a little dry and warm.

I sat for a while then went to get food. They had all sorts of stuff on offer. Nothing fancy but good enough for what most people would be looking for. I did try to eat a few things but everything I had I didn't really feel like after a few bites. I guess my body was not ready for food. I got annoyed I was cold so I left to find Dee. I walked through the crowd of people waiting for their families to come out. No sign of Dee at all. Hmm cold and shivering I went to where I last saw her. Nope not there either. No phone so no way to contact her. Maybe she has gone home. Sure its only 700m up the road but I could hardly walk and I was so cold. It seemed like a long way away and if I get there and no one is home I have no key. So this is where I say to check a bag in so you can enjoy the medical tent a little. Maybe even have a phone in the bag so you can arrange what you are doing and how you are going before you leave the tent. I had nothing. The rain was lightly coming down again as I made my way home hoping that I would be warm soon. People probably thought that I was showing off as I walked with my medal on, number still on and towel covering as much of me as I could but I was too cold and wet to care. Lucky when I got back someone was home and the apartment was open. Dee had come back to get my bag and gone back down but we had taken different routes so had missed each other. I tried to call and tell her but she didn't take her phone. Good job. Well I tried. I grabbed warm clothes and sat on the shower floor or 5min to try to feel better.

When Dee got back a little while later I heard that Mike had finished. He had a foot issues but with some medical help he had been able to walk and then run his way through to the end. All we had to do now was watch Jacinda make it home. Well I was dry now and while I was still cold I was feeling slightly better. I wasn't sick I just didn't feel great. I had pains and while I wanted to eat and drink my body said no. A couple of hours later Jacinda made it back and we headed home. I had some warmed up pizza which finally went down nicely. We all chatted for a while and then went to bed. While the others said they didn't sleep well that night after the race it was the best sleep I had had in a week. I don’t think I moved at all during the night.

Today we were like the disabled bunch. We all had the ironman hobble going on. We had to walk down to buy our finisher gear so we did that early then headed to the hot baths just out of town. That made the body feel a little better. So with that I am done. Would I do another? I don’t know. I don’t think so but you should never say never. I think I like the 70.3 better. It’s still tough but doesn't bust you up as much. Sure I could slow down but then what goal do I have. I guess we will see.

I have had a lot of support from friends and family throughout this adventure. They don’t know it but they did help. Even when you are out there on your own and you feel you can’t go on. You know so many people have been cheering you on and telling you that you can do it so you don’t want to let them down. It drives you to just keep moving forward. There are way too many people to thank but I would like to. Hopefully I can get a chance to in person soon but if I do not and you are reading this know that your support has helped. I also have been lucky to find a great coach in John O’Connell of Summit Fitness Studio. He put me in a position to achieve all my goals. I know he cared how I was doing throughout the program and encouraged me to do my best. Sure I had moments of cursing his plan for the pain it was giving me but he knew what I needed and I trusted he wasn't sadistic. But honestly you need to learn to love a little pain if you want to do this and that is part of the training. To teach you to push beyond what you think you are capable of doing. I should also say a big thank you to Mike Mayo my weekend training partner and general IM guru for all the help he has given me. It’s a shame he had medical issues during the race but he will be back for another go around. Yes he is crazy like that. Also Adam Campbell my weekday and virgin IM buddy who has helped me from the start of this big adventure by talking me into doing an enticer a couple of years ago. Without him I would be sitting around being lazy. It’s a lot easier to get out and do something if someone else is there to drag you along, talk to about things and also be experiencing the same things. Now it’s your turn mate. I would like to see you smile your way through this one. With that I will end with….

Stefan Jankowski you are an IRONMAN!!!

Race week...

Race week has arrived. Tuesday morning I got up intending to do a swim before leaving for the airport. Unfortunately I had a lot of things to do around the house to prepare before leaving so I never got the swim done. It’s ok the weeks training was optional. About midday we packed the car and headed to our friends to collect their bikes before heading to the airport.

Check-in took some time. We had purchased 200kg of luggage for the 6 of us. All up 6 bags and 3 bikes not including any carry on totalling 170kg. Wow we have room for shopping still. The airport was the usual sitting around and waiting. The flight was on what seemed to be the smallest plane that could make the trip. There was not much leg room and the kid behind me was bouncing around and generally being a pain. Lucky it’s only a 3hr flight. In New Zealand we found our bags and bikes had all made it. Woohoo. We dragged our gear through customs. We must have looked funny having so much gear with us. The hotel was a couple of blocks away from the airport. While there was a bus that could have taken us to it we decided the walk would be better as the bus would go to all other hotels before ours so would take a couple of hours. We made it to the hotel about 12am and went straight to bed.

Wednesday morning I was up early. I have not been sleeping well for the last few days and that night was no different. For some reason I am awake at 2am and lay there looking at the back of my eye lids trying to get more sleep. Anyway we could pick up the campervan at 9am. This was good as we had to get to Taupo by before 4pm so we could get my bike back together and down to the Specialized tent to have the recall on the bars fixed. Well at the car hire place we are told that our camper came back damaged so they were getting another ready but it would take a good hour or so. Unfortunately we had to checkout within that time and it was setting us back a little. We decided the best plan was to get a lift back to the hotel. Grab all the gear and check out then come straight back to get the camper.

Back at the car hire place we had time so we found some grass and built my bike. This would save us some time at the other end. Soon the van was ready and we were off. We stopped to get some breakfast / early lunch at butterfly creek. It had some good food and farm attached so can walk around and pet the animals. We also had a quick stop at Tirau. It is a funny place that made a heap of things out of corrugated iron. Apart from that the trip down was not very exciting.

Around 4pm we made it to Taupo and headed directly to our apartment. We unpacked the van and headed to the Specialized tent. I don’t know why I made an appointment as they would not get to it until later that night anyway. It seemed like they had a lot of people just drop their bikes in without a booking. Its ok as long as it was done I did not mind. The rest of the day we did a little shopping and got the apartment sorted out.

Thursday I woke up early again and headed down to collect my bike. Everything looked good. I just needed to test it later in the day. After brining the bike back we all went down to the lake to have a swim. The water was cool but nothing too bad. After about 100m of swimming my body got used to the temperature. The water was very clear. Basically like swimming in a pool but with rocks and sand to look at. We headed out to a buoy to look for a sighting point for the outward leg. Once done we swam to a buoy on the return leg side and looked for a sighting point in that direction as well. Then we swam around a little and headed in.

After breakfast we headed to the expo to have a look around and do some ironman shopping. I collected myself a shirt, jumper and towel as they all had my name on it. While at the expo we had our wetsuit dipped as required before heading into registration. Rego was an easy process. Collect your race bag. This included your numbers, race tattoos, transition bags and other throw away items. Following registration I went and purchased a 3G hotspot from the local phone shop. So I was back online. Yay. At 1pm I went to the first timers seminar. It was good to see. Most of the talk was basic information and a lot of reminding you that if and when something goes wrong to not get upset and just keep going. After the talk I headed back to the apartment and relaxed for a little while. Later I took the bike out for a quick ride to make sure that it was running as it should be. With everything working as normal I checked that off the things to do. Back at the apartment I packed my black, blue and red race bags as well as my special needs bag. The black bag is for gear I will be wearing before the race and anything I want after the race. The blue is for bike riding gear and red is for the run gear. Special needs bags are also blue and red and is for anything you want on the ride or run but you might not get anything in this bag back if you don’t use it. Later that night we had to go to the race briefing. They basically went over everything that was in the race guide and a few important rules.

That night I took a sleeping tablet before heading to bed. It was the best sleep I have had in a week. So far today we have had breakfast and showered. We rechecked and compared our transition bags for the last time before heading down to check-in our bikes, helmets and bags. I got to have a walkthrough of the transition area. Now I am sitting around typing away just trying to not move much. Its not an easy day really. Just sitting here makes you think of the race ahead. You want to get out and get your mind off things but you also want to stay in and relax. The rain is coming down and there is a bit of wind. Lets hope that the wind goes away and the rain eases up.