T-1

My bike is racked, my transition bags are in transition and there is very little more I can do before tomorrow - which is nice.

I am sat outside the hotel room in an introspective mood. Since T-3 I have been for a two bike run workouts. On Friday I went out for a 1.5 hour zone 2 ride. I rode not far off the pace I would like to race at, keeping my heart rate mainly in the 140's. I went out on the course from Lake Placid in reverse for 45 mins and then turned around and came back. Going out was great and I was flying along at 23mph average but coming back was a slog as I went up the series of hills that constitute the overall climb back to town. Unfortunately I have to report that by the time I got off the bike my inner thigh was a bit sore and running was not that comfortable. It is certainly not enough pain to stop me racing but enough to be of concern for such a long race.

That night we met up with Mary Lou and went to the "mandatory" pre-race brief. It was quite impressive to see so many people in one tent. There was an inspiriational video and a very funny video but the brief itself did not throw up any nuggets of information.


Today I met up with Team Z for a very short ride and jog just to get the system going before I went to rack my bike in the oval. When I got there I found that I did not have an allotted space like the other 2588 athletes. The last rack was for 2550+ so I asked a volunteer and he put me on the end pointing in the right direction. I actually have a great position, it is always an advantage to be near the transition exit as you have less distance to run with your bike. My transition bags are on the floor rather than the racks but again they should be pretty easy to find.


Tonight we have a Team Z banquet with slide show and speeches which should be good fun. I am hoping Ben will settle quickly when we get back so that I can try to get to sleep but I suspect that I will nervous excitement may keep me up a good chunk of the night. Tomorrow we will be up at 3:30 and hopefully in town not long after 5:00.

This place is now packed, there are half naked people running and biking everywhere. We have met some really nice people and lots of families are arriving to support the athletes. The weather has been very unpredictable. It rained phenomonally hard yesterday and today has been a bit sticky but despite heavy skies it has not rained. I am about to check the forecast but rumour has it we are looking at high 70s/low 80s which should be OK. The only problem with being in the mountains is that you have to plan for every weather eventuality.

Hopefully next post I will be able to sign off as an Ironman but I am not sure when I will get round to updating again. Hopefully I will have enough energy left to hit the keys after tomorrow.