5 days to IMWI

How do I feel this morning? I'm tired my dog doesn't believe in sleeping in when I am home so she woke up at 7 am today and of course woke me up. I stayed in there until 7:30 am and got up and took Luna out and for a walk. The rest of the morning I have been packing and double checking all my gear. I think I am all set we have everything together and as soon as this thunderstorm passes we will get rolling. The destination is Ohio.

I took last look around my basement where a lot of my training took place over the last 4 years and it's hard not to get a little emotional knowing how hard I've worked down here to get to where I am today. I still can't believe I'm heading to Madison to do this. It's pretty freakin surreal. Two years ago the dream came to life and here I am on the verge of making it a reality.

The down time has really been messing with me but this morning as I lay in bed at abut 6:30 am a voice of reason seemed to speak out amongst all all the other voices in my head. For that short period of time everything I need to know and do for Sunday was clear in my mind.

I need to focus in on that voice in my head and not let fear or the seeds of doubt take hold. I'm ready, I know I can do this, it's time to start believing it.

6 days to IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired my wonderful dog Luna decided she wanted out of the create at 6:30 am this morning. I'm thinking I might get a day to sleep in, nope Luna was having none of that. So I pulled myself out of bed at around 7:30 am and got up took Luna out and walked her. I feed her and she has been like my shadow this morning lol.

So busy day today, I have to pack my equipment, clean the bike, go food shopping, take Luna into Petco. She needs her nails clipped so she'll get washed and clipped there. I also need to make sure everything is in order before I leave for Madison, WI tomorrow.

I feel like I should be totally freaking out right now. Seriously I should be worried and scared of what's to come LOL. Actually I'm not which is somewhat surprising.

Oh, I'd like to get a quick 30 to 45 minute workout on the bike and a quick 30 minute run. I won't have the chance to do anything on Tuesday and Wednesday since I'll be travelling.

I didn't get any workout in today there was just too much to do to get ready to go. I was like a nervous wreck today worrying about getting everything done. I did pretty much do what I needed to do. The shopping is done my kids won't starve to death while we are gone lol, Luna got taken care of at Petco and I got my bike cleaned up and my gear packed. The bike is looking sexy lol. I need to triple check my gear again, I am so fearful of forgetting something it's not even funny.

Holy crap, I'm leaving tomorrow for Madison. It just seems so surreal now. Somebody remind me why I decided to do this again?

7 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired this morning but up early to get one more OWS in at Wildwood lake this morning and to make up some time that I lost on my aborted bike ride yesterday. We should have a decent group this morning for the swim.

I had great swim this morning I finally broke 40 minutes with my long out and back which is pretty amazing. I hope that it is a good omen for the race next weekend. We had a big crowd this morning and I swam with Wynn, Teresa, Bobby, Rick, Susan, Chris and Drew. We also ran into Snajeev and Bobby Moore who had swam earlier. Turned out to be a nice morning and I appreciate everyone wishing me well there. I'm grateful and thankful to everyone who has offered there help and support to me.

I followed it up with a 90 minutes bike ride with Bobby. We did a moderate paced ride and pushed some here and there. We did a partial jail run route today staying around 51, 24 and Mill Rd. It was a good ride and the weather held out, no rain but it was very windy. It was the same yesterday, lots of wind. There always seems to be lots of wind on 51 lol. Bobby also loaned me his set of wheels for the race. Again I can't thank him enough for all his help and support the last two years.

Well that's it on the training front. I've done everything that I think I could have to be able to get ready for IMWI. I just want to have the best day I can and finish. I would feel awful if I didn't especially after all the help and support I've gotten from everyone. I just gotta do it.

8 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired this morning but up early to ride with Wynn this morning. We are looking to get a good solid 3 hour ride in around 50 miles would be my guess. I left it up t him to plan the route so I'll know what it will be when we get there. I will probably follow up the bike with a short run.

Oh man what a day! Wynn planned a good route for us to do. The typically local route we which we refer to the jail run. We did a bit of a warm up through Manorville and then took Mill Rd to 24 to 51 and were supposed to hit 24 again to Hampton Bays. Wynn got to do all that but I wound up getting a flat on 51. I could not get the tube replaced and broke one of my tire levers. I must have been messing around for 90 minutes trying to replace the tube when my friend Rick and his wife ride up LOL. He got it changed in like 5 minutes but by that time I called my wife to rescue me! She did and I headed back to Wynn's he was there and he completed his ride. He did head back to look for me but he did not come back far even and had thought that I couldn't be that far back. Well I was LOL but I wouldn't have been if I could have changed my tube.

Better to have this happen today and it's a very good lesson learned. I will be holding my own tire clinic this evening and doing it over and over again. Man could you imagine blowing your Ironman over a tire tube!

I did get my run in as well. I ran almost an hour, got 5 miles in. I had to change plans for tomorrow so I will swim at 7:30 am with that group at Wildwood and then I will make up at least 2 hours on the bike afterwards. I was having a really good ride too until that happened.

Like I said good lesson to learn now. I promise I'll be an expert come tomorrow.

I practiced changing my tube on my spare tire and I am happy to report I can do it. While I'm not an expert I know that if it happens again I'll be able to take care of it. I'm actaully happy this happened today.

9 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? OMG! only 9 days to go! This is crazy man, 9 more days. I don't even want to think about it. I'm really tired this morning I need one really long and good night of sleep. Today I have a lot to do and I am going to get an hour on the bike and an hour run in this evening. I'll be looking at one more long ride tomorrow morning followed with a short run and then Sunday I am hoping to get one more OWS in at Wildwood with the Warriors. I hope I can get my ass out of bed to do that. Monday sounds like it's gonna be a wash out with the weather so I'll probably do very little on Monday in the way of training.

Where has the time gone? Damn, this is my last weekend before the big day. I can't believe it.

I did my workout this evening. I did an easy hour ride on the bike on the trainer. I started late today because I had to drop my daughter off for work and I had to walk Luna so I just kept the workout indoors. It would have been nice to run outdoors it was pretty nice out. I did the run on the treadmill and kept it to a little over 30 minutes. Again just an easy run this evening. Man I feel like a total slacker this week my totals are pitiful.

I'm planning on a 3 hour ride with Wynn tomorrow morning and I will follow the ride up with a short run. On Sunday I am going to try and get out and swim at the lake in the morning and then get another short run in, 5 or 6 miles.

10 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? Holy crap 10 more days to go! I get anxiety every time I start thinking about doing the freakin race. What's wrong with me? Why can't a just chill and be relaxed about the whole thing. I'm tired this morning but I did sleep well last night. I have so much to do and think about to get ready for the trip out to Madison. My mind is all over the place this week. I need to find my happy place lol. Today I am planning to swim at the lake weather permitting of course. If not I'll bike indoors and try for the swim tomorrow. We'll see how it goes today.

Great swim this evening at out Wildwood lake. I swam with Susan, Sanjeev and Stephanie. It was beautiful out there, a little windy to start. The water was a little choppy at the start but the wind died down and it was nice. I actually swam well tonight. That doesn't happen very often but I felt like I had an awesome swim tonight. Yes very nice to feel that way going into Ironman Wisconsin! I need to be feeling good about myself for the swim it will be the toughest thing for me to do but I know I can do it. Hoping to get one more swim in before I leave probably going to be on Sunday.

11 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired this morning I did not sleep well last night. I need t be getting to bed earlier as well. I've been trying not to think about Wisconsin. It's hard not to. The more you think about it the more likely you are to let those thoughts of doubt and fear take over. I've just been trying not think about the race as whole and am trying to break it up in smaller segments otherwise it becomes to overwhelming for me. I can't believe I'm only 11 days away from doing what I set out to do almost 2 years ago. It seems totally surreal that I'm this close and that I really do have a chance to do it. I would have never thought in a million years that I could get ready for it. I just keep telling myself I can do it and yes I am ready.

Today I will try and get a 90 minutes to 2 hour easy paced run in this evening. Looking for 8 to 10 miles and hoping it doesn't rain, no T-Storms. It will be a late start for me I need to take my daughter to work this evening. Yeah man the mind games are in full effect now.

I got my run in tonight and it was freakin humid out there. It's not been that bad in a while so the first part of my run was some what miserable. Plus I'm starting to dwell on the race which is a bad thing to be doing. The first loop just sucked, I didn't feel like running at all. I should have just taken a nap in my recliner. Well at least that's how I felt, I am happy to say I did tune out my negative thoughts and I woke up and managed to run fairly well after that.

Damn, 10 more days of this I don't think I'm gonna make it through the taper lol. Seriously I just need to chill and relax and not be worrying about all this stuff.