The Morning and Swim

Ironman watch went off at 4:45AM to signal the start of the day. Actually began moving around 3:30am, couldn't sleep. Usually happens with too much anticipation and excitement. Spent the night with my friend who would also be doing the event. We stayed 1.5 hrs from the site and he stayed 10 min from the site. Easy decision.

Got the bike and gear bags (swim to bike and bike to run respectively) checked in the night before. So nothing to bring down but the swim gear. The clothes that I wore would be stowed in a back for pick up at the end of the race.

Confirmed bike pressures (tires) and made the change. Adrenaline was flowing. My friend's zipper on his website had a mechanical issue.. had that repaired without issue other then the fear that it would not get changed. Felt good and loose heading down to the water to see 2,400 of my fellow event participants.

After 15 minutes of loud music, the cannon fired for the pros to charge off. They got a 15 minute head start... they must have needed it. The rest of us went off on the second cannon fire. Charging into the water, I waded the first 150m until the feet lost touch with the ground. I did an alternating stroke between freestyle and breast stroke. The reason was the choppy-ness of the water. 2 to 3ft swells made keeping a straight line and breathing well imperative. Also, I noticed an interesting alternation between warm and cold water bodies as we made our way ourt 800m. At the turnaround of the first lap, a lot of bodies on top of bodies trying to navigate around a bouy. Made it around and headed back in to shore. That's when I noticed the jellyfish that inhabit the warm water areas. Small versions, but hit a couple with my hands that left little marks.

Turnaround went well. Grabbed a drink of water and headed back out. Felt good with a strong first split around the 42 minute mark. With a goal of 1:30, all was looking well. The next lap went a little less uneventful because the crowd had thinned. Swimming was a little easier, nestled up behind a larger fellow who lead the way back around and in. Drafting is allowed in the water. Second lap was around 45 minutes, slightly beating my goal of 1:30.

With the exception of a taking on a little water (mouths sometimes do not seal the greatest), everything went as planned. I was excited exiting the water and looking forward to the first transition.

The same cannot be said for my fellow participate that I roomed with the night before. He ended up being pulled from the water, along with 44 others.

Uh Oh...

Diagnosed with the beginnings of bronchitis this morning. This should make for an interesting week leading up to the race.

On the bright side the bicycle and skinsuit are both in-hand and look great. Going to finish the helmet tomorrow and post all the photographs.

"I want more impossible to ignore, Impossible to ignore. And they'll come true, impossible not to do, Impossible not to do" - Dreams

Long Run

Well, instead of 15 miles I ran 20.6 miles in 3hr17min. Felt good, heart rate stayed in check, probably could have gone further had I not run out of water the last hour. Think this is as good as it is going to get. Going to do some short workouts to keep things loose up to the race.

Thanks to everyone for your support. I will be taking a laptop and continuing the blog up to the race.

I will also be logging the run on a GPS, along with photographs of the race course, volunteers, aid stations, etc... So please check back afterwards for the posts.

"Sometimes I feel like there's nothing that's stopping me. All things are possible. I am unstoppable. Some may convince you, no one can break through, I'm here to tell you you're worth more than they tell you... Sometimes I feel like it's all opened up for me. Nothing's impossible..." - Scraped