Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Less than 3 weeks to go!

My weekend was rather relaxing, probably because I decided to take a little detour from training. Not to worry, I still got in a 4 hour ride on Sunday with a short transition run (felt great)---but, I took Saturday off...and I took yesterday off. My knee is doing much better overall, but still slightly tender so i'm just really milking the rest period as much as I can. I'm trying to eat healthy overall, more vegetables and vitamin-c related items....superstitiously trying to avoid sickness! I figure rest combined with good eating can't be bad. That said, Dave and I are still making our frozen yogurt ones. And..i'm not talking about Fro Yo with "just" fro yo....I get m&m's or cookie dough....can't really do just the plain stuff! Anyway--today i'm headed out to get in a 45 minute run and a 90 minute swim. We'll see if I make it!

Right now, I have to organize my stuff for the race, since i'm going out of town next weekend to help a friend of mine do her first Half Ironman at SOMA (in Arizona)..she's awesome and I wouldn't be surprised if she went pro some day! So---I'll be gone all next weekend so i've been gathering stuff for my race such as:
1. A neoprene swim cap, in case it's freezing in Florida (I probably won't need this in 77 degree water temps, but after NOT having it in 58--60 degree water temps in Big Kahuna, i'll at least have it on hand).
2. Mounting a drink system to the back of my bike (for extra water bottles).
3. Bike Tuneup-to happen this Sunday. My bike is being shipped for me by a company...it's not cheap, but easier than taking it a part, renting a case, lugging it on the plane..yadda yadda.
4. Purchase of race-related food: Shot bloks, Gatorade, Carbo-Pro (stuff you put in drinks for carbs while riding), Pure Fit bars (these have protein, NO fiber)..fiber+racing=awful stomach issues.
5. Layout my race stuff: wetsuit, goggles, body glide (um, yeah---it prevents chafing!), race belt for my number, running shoes and a TON of other stuff.

Basically for the race I think I have 4 bags: 1.Swim/Bike bag 2. Special Needs bag they hand out about mile 70 on the bike, 3. Bike/Run Bag 4. Special Needs bag for the run...handed out about 13 miles into the run.

In each of these bags I have to make sure I have replacements for food, clothes (not in all bags), etc....a lot to think about.

To make matters more confusing, I have to make sure each replacement water bottle has the right amount of calories etc....since I take in approximately 200-310 calories per hour on the bike (see...there is a science to training!).

Enough procrastinating, i'm off for my run!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mer,
You are gonna do so great! Thank you for the kind words, it means alot to me. I Have taken a couple of days off this week too. However, i make sure to get in all my long stuff. The only thing i have been slacking on is swimming. I just hate making myself go to the pool. UGH!!! See ya next week!!!

Jay McLaughlin said...

Since you're so close to your race, of course don't change anything. But I just read your blog (part of it) for the 1st time. I just finished my 5th Ironman in 5 years about 2 weeks ago. And I read your post about using Desitin for chafing. Which I'm sure is great. But I've been using Body Glide, putting some on the chamois on my shorts and some on my skin - it works great. The race I did wasn't a "real" Ironman, but it was swim 2.4 miles, bike 112, run 26.2 - an independent IM called Chesapeakeman: http://tricolumbia.org/chesapeakeman.asp

Anonymous said...

Okay that is WAY too much stuff to have to remember to pack! Good grief! At least you're starting early! I've been thinking of you.....only a few more days!!!!