2 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm tired this morning but slept a little longer today. I am so nervous now about doing this. Holy cow I can't believe it. Today I am going to do a short bike and run to make sure everything is cool with the bike. I will head over to Monona Terrace and do the 2 pm athlete briefing and then I plan to drive the bike course. I need to do the bike course for sure. I got most of my stuff ready so the transition bags and special needs bags get finalized tonight. I will triple check them tomorrow before I drop them off with the bike.

I went to Monona Terrace for the athlete briefing and I could not park there it was full. Damn, I instead drove the bike course. It is challenging to say the least, lot's of turns and curves plenty of hills, there will be plenty of climbing and fast descents on this course. I will need to be careful there are some tricky spots but I'm hoping all the riding I've done this year will help me through it.

I did get a short 30 minute bike and 30 minute 30 in today. It was the first workout this week. I've not had a chance to do anything so it was good to do a little something. Well here we go getting down to the wire now. I need to finish off my transition bags tonight so I can drop them off with the bike tomorrow.

3 days until IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm very tired the driving out here over plus the lack of sleep has taken it's toll on me. I need to get some sleep the next few days even if I have to do a few afternoon naps. I want to be well rested for Sunday since it is gonna be a really long day.

The plan today is to do a little shopping with my wife and pick a few things we did not take and need. I also want to do the athelte check in today and get it out of the way. I need to work on my transition and special needs bags as well.

I want to go and drive the bike course this afternoon. I need to see what I've seen a thousand times on the simply stu video, the infamous Wisconsin IM Bike course where IM dreams come to die. I'll be scoping it out very carefully and I will not let the bike course do me in on Sunday. I've worked so hard to improve my biking this year just for this day. I have to conquer this course on Sunday. Other than that I just want to keep my mind busy and my body rested.

I may try and get a short run or bike in this evening since I've not done anything since Sunday other than packing and driving for the trip.

I need to get a scale as well I forgot to bring mine and I hate not knowing what my weight is.

Ok I went to the athlete check in and my I was freakin nervous as all hell. What made it worse was Lake Monona was very choppy and it was windy out there today. It scared the hell out of me thinking about having to swim in those conditions. It could happen. I told the lady who was doing swim cap that the lake did not look happy today. I got through the assembly line process and am all set. I wanted to drive the bike course but did not get the chance too busy.

Tonight I will put my transition bags together. Tomorrow short bike and run to make sure the bike is ok. I will try and do the EN presentation on racing IMWI then I need to go to the athlete briefing. I will need to drive the bike course tomorrow as well. We'll see how all this goes. I wish I had another day.

Oh they weighted me in and I'm at 167. Not bad considering no workouts and on the road for two days not eating great.

4 days to IMWI

How do I feel today? I'm very tired this morning. We did not get to Ohio until like 1 am this morning. We left NY after 2 pm and we had to make a number of stops especially with the dog. Luna has been really good on this trip so no complaints although she could've slept later this morning. For me 5 hours of slept ain't gonna cut it.

We should be in Madison this evening so I'll get to bed early tonight. Then tomorrow I'll do the athlete check in and find a place to take my bike to get my wheels swapped. I would also like to go drive the bike course and get some type of swim, bike or run in tomorrow and Friday. I need to do something over the next two days. Just easy stuff before Sunday.

Wisconsin here I come!

After two very long days of travel we finally made it to Madison! Yay! Wow, I never thought the day would actually come where I'd actually have to do it but that day is getting near now. I'm too tired to think about it at the moment I need to go to bed. I'm soooo tired.

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.