Full Vineman 2014 Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 12)

Wait. What? THIS Saturday?? YIKES!

Oddly enough, I am reveling in this taper madness. After all of this training I am so ready for race day to come. I looked back on my training that really started at the beginning of January when I started my base-building and really understand why I’m ready for the training to end and the race to get here. Getting ready for Saturday looked like this, and I’m sure you all have similar numbers:

Swim – 74 hours/199,000 yards (my last 20 minute swim tomorrow will make it a nice round 200k!)

Bike – 163 hours/2915 miles

Run – 93 hours/635 miles

I’m glad I didn’t know the training was going to be so intense, or I might have been scared off. But all the hard training is all done now, the only remaining efforts will be to stay loose and ready.

Finally found a site that provides info on water temp, and it is looking pretty good. Low temp has been around 67 degrees and high around 73. Since we’ll be there crack o’dawn, we’ll be at the lower end of the spectrum, so looks like it will be OK for wetsuits.

I spent the last couple of hours doing race prep. Packing up bags for hotel stuff, swim, T1, T2, Bike special needs, run special needs, and an after-race-at-the-venue bag. Dotting each item on the checklist as it goes into a bag, then double-checking to make sure. Last minute adjustments like take extra Infinit just in case, make sure there is Imodium in every bag just in case GI issues pop up, and make yet another list of stuff that isn’t getting packed now but will have to be in the bags before leaving the house. Turns out that is a lot of stuff. I know have a much better appreciation of your earlier comment Kate; the one about being glad you are driving and not trying to drive with all this stuff!

I’m sure none of you have been checking the weather forecast (more than 5 times a day at 4 different websites) but I’m still surprised at the variety of forecasts I’m seeing even today. Everything from 87-93 degrees and partly cloudy to morning overcast to sunny all day. At this point I think I’ve just come to accept it is going to be somewhere in there and will just have to adjust pace and effort depending on what the day brings.

So excited for ya'll!!!!!!! Safe travels and nothing but tailwinds on race day

Got my race report up here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=520666.  My string of "I forgot to" continued into the race.  Remember my wife had to ask me as I was closing the garage door, "Do you need to put your bike on the rack on the back of the car?" and how I got to the prerace meeting and T2 setup, but forgot to take my run gear?  Well, race morning I almost forgot my HR strap, was just ready to go into the water with my wave when I discovered I'd forgotten to put my timing chip on after I took it off to put on the wetsuit.  As you know it is 3 minutes between waves so I had to sprint back up to the rack, get the chip on and get back to into the water before my wave left.  As I was entering the water the announcer was counting down 5,4,3,2,1.  Then, I get out of the water and discover I had forgotten to turn on the MyAthlete GPS tracker.  It is a great little device and the software for spectators is really good, but the device has to be on for it to work (imagine that!).  Unfortunately the LED that tells you it is on is SO dim you cannot see it in daylight.  So I pushed and held the 'on' button per the instructions and hoped for the best, but alas, it did not turn on so the family had to rely on the GulfSport website which they report actually worked really well.  This has been a race to remember for a whole host of reasons!

X

Can't believe it's been a year already, too!!! Since last year, I ran Chicago Marathon in October, a few half marathons and a local sprint tri - and am training for another marathon in October. I bought a new-to-me bike knowing I will do more Ironman races. My friend and I are considering Louisville (since it is moving to October in 2015), Chattanooga or Wisconsin again for 2015. Looking forward to getting back into long-distance triathlon.

To all of you who competed on Saturday - CONGRATULATIONS!!! Can't wait to read your race reports. I hope you are relaxing with some California wine and savoring your hard-fought journeys.