Its the eve of the BIG day! Got the bags packed and waiting to drop off the bike and gears bags. The week has just flown by and once again I find myself going through the spectrum of emotions that many Ironman athletes do.
What will he day hold? Have a done enough ( or too much?)
Having done 10 of these (Ironman) you would think by now I have it figured out. Truth is I know what it takes to get to the finish line but in a particular time its hard to tell. To steal and redo do a famous Forrest Gump quote: " Life/ Ironman ( Kona in particular) is like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get." As much as we can control the training we do, our effort on race day and even the nutrition we carefully dial in , there are so many factors that cannot be controlled and those variables can make or break a day. In my mind its best to work to stay relaxed and not mull over the uncontrollable factors (heat/wind/dumb luck with a flat). Basically you have to handle whatever the day dishes up. It could be a stale piece of humble pie, a carton of sour milk or hopefully the tastiest piece of carrot cake ever! I am hoping for the last one.
So what is my my outlook on the race? I just want to cover the distance with my head held high and a smile on my face and the time will be what it is. My plan for the swim is to treat it as any ole open water swim so I am not anticipating any stellar swim...just want to get it done with minimal anxiety and relaxed ( but strong) as possible. As such I am happy to swim a little extra to have my own space. Sounds good now but that could all change in the morning as I'm treading water with 1700+ other athletes.
The bike. I plan to ride as well as the conditions will let me. I opted to go without race wheels and use my "egg beater" training wheels for a number of reasons.
#1 I have a PowerTap on the wheel and I planned to use this race as a real world test of my power over the 112 miles.
#2 I did not want to have to fight the crosswinds. In 2007, the race wheel set up combined with the crosswinds I believe is what got my hip jacked up and that started my mental downward spiral.
#3 I know how these wheels are going to handle so I have confidence that I can bomb a downhill in the aerobars and stay upright with crosswinds.
The way I rationalized my choice of training wheels over using my race wheels (404s) is if the race wheels cause me to have to get out of my aerobbars to stabilize my bike in crosswinds then whats the point? Now granted I will be kicking myself if the conditions are mild but I doubt it will cost me that much in time... I hope. So although my bike would look way cooler and faster with the Zipps, I will have to be happy with my gold bling-bling rims and power on regardless. I will not lie, I would VERY much like to have a strong bike on this course...I love hills and I actually don't mind headwind if legs/hips hold up. If all things line up properly I plan to hammer the bike and am willing to suffer the consequences on the run.
The run. This has been the biggest source of uncertainty for me. I know I am going to have to walk (a lot) thus my willingness to fry my legs on the bike. I have no clue what my legs are going to want to do past mile 13. I have no idea if I will feel any of the discomfort in my hip. My plan is to stick with a run + walk strategy. It will vary but right now as long as there is no hip discomfort I am going to do either a 4 min run/ 1 min walk or 9 min run/ 1 min. To help pass the time and keep me positive and appreciative of gift I have been given to be HERE, I plan to dedicate various parts of the race (especially the marathon) to some very special people (both past and present) who have inspired me and even helped make me the athlete/person/coach that I have become.
I could easily just keep babbling about all the cool stuff that has gone on this week but instead thought I end this last blog post (until after the race) with some pics from the week.
Thanks to all that have sent positive words of encouragement.....those will certainly help fuel me tomorrow.
I could easily just keep babbling about all the cool stuff that has gone on this week but instead thought I end this last blog post (until after the race) with some pics from the week.
Thanks to all that have sent positive words of encouragement.....those will certainly help fuel me tomorrow.
Nice gold rims huh. Check out the nice girly flower touch on my helmet too.
Earlier in the week ( Sunday) I road from Kona out to the turn to go to Hawi. Nice 30+ mile ride with sweet tailwind for the first part but wicked crosswind second half. Dave was kind enough to follow me and drive me back to town.
The next day ( Monday), Chuck #1466 and I drove out to the turn to Hawi. We did the out and back to the turnaround for the 112 mile course. Great mental and physical day as the bike and wheels handled the crosswinds beautifully.
On Tuesday/Wednesday, I met up with a clean shaved Chuck for a swim. He's a pretty quick swimmer ( and overall well balanced triathlete) so basically he just jumped in the water with me and swam away. Now if only on race day I could con him into dragging me the 2.4 miles.
Thursday I pretty much was a slug and laid around the pool. Thursday PM was the Ironman Welcome dinner so Dave and I walked down and got this cool photo before being entertained by authentic Hawaiian music, dance and song. WTC really knows how to throw a great prerace welcome dinner!
Friday ( today!) I opted to avoid the chaos/hype and posing of the last prerace swim and just did a 30 min bike and 25 min run. Felt pretty good :-) So now its just about time to drop off the bike.
Next post....post race. Hopefully it will be all good news!
~Jennifer
1 comment:
Good luck! I've been following your blog and wish you well. You will do great! Be sure to post a race report as soon as possible. Have fun! You are such an inspiration.
Post a Comment