Last thoughts before the race

Well, I hitch a ride on the big bird tonight. I know that once I get to Cali, the race will come and go before I can even catch my breath. So I'll say goodbye to ya'll now and promise LOTS Of pictures and stories next week. If you want to check out the results go to Ironmanlive.com and look for #1705. I'm sure they will have a live telecast of the race, but don't watch it expecting to see me. It's a huge pro-race every year so that will be the main focus, of course. But it should be a great race! I'm looking forward to seeing Macca and Desiree Ficker turning towards the finish as I start my run!

OK, now it's time for the thought explosion...

Family Therapy- Last night my brother came into town on business. We went out to Lopez for some Mexican food and he saw my house for the first time. It was therapeutic to destress with family while gorging on chips, salsa, guacamole, and cactus margaritas. By the time I got home I was the walking dead. Since I left camp, when I get tired, I get TIRED.

Bagging a workout Since I was so tired last night, I decided to sleep in this morning. I've been having the feeling that I've been fighting off a cold for weeks now and it felt a little stronger last night. So I took an Airborne and went to sleep. 9.5 hours later I awoke as refreshed as ever! My body needed the sleep way more than the swim.

Data, Data, Data This was one thing I have been going back and forth about. What kind of data do I want to see as I'm racing. With the Garmin you can pretty much see as much or as little as you want. I have finally made my decision. I will be racing with Heart Rate and Miles. That's it. No Time. No Speed. I don't want to be obsessing about speed on the bike. I want to push it based on heart rate. Dial my HR between 157-163 and see where that takes me. On a course known to be windy, looking at speed is really dangerous. And I know myself. If I put time on there... and I have miles... I'll be playing the math game the whole time. So miles and heart rate it is!

Goals Notice I haven't given you any goal times. And I still won't. Sorry! Time is not a concern. I'm racing this as hard as my body can go within my race plan and heart rate zones. I can guarantee you one thing... a PR!

;-)

Fiber Taper With regret, I had my last bowl of Kashi cereal this morning- my morning bolus of 20 grams of fiber. I've been on the Kashi for breakfast ritual for 2 weeks now in an attempt to clean out the body before my fiber taper. I believe in fiber tapers 100%, but I think the week leading up to the taper should be high fiber. Why? Well, the last thing you need is to fiber taper when your body is already a bit... overfull... That just sets you up for race day constipation which could be a nightmare of cramping pain... and the dreaded potty stop. So after this morning, it's all white from here until race day. White pasta, white rice, white potatoes, white BREAD (my personal fave... bakery bread! yay! an excuse to eat Sourdough and French bread and Portuguese loaves... joy!).

On another nutrition note, Coach Paulo told me to cut out fat from my race day breakfast. This makes me very, very sad. I'm sure that you can all guess why. No peanut butter! That's just crazy talk. So my race day breakfast is now going to be 2 bagels with Jam. Plain old jam. But you better believe there will be a PB&J sandwich waiting for me at the finish line!

Cali Fun So now I should go pack, but I can't wait for this weekend. My dad is meeting me at the San Diego airport tonight if the great miracle of aviation happens... if both of our flights are on time! Then we are being greeted by my cousin (you remember her from the Vegas race in December) and her Mom. I am looking forward to meeting blogger Rachel in Oceanside. She is also doing the race, is a fellow scientist, and we share and Alma Mater in the University of Wisconsin. Should be fun! I'm also going to a Slowtwitch gathering to meet a bunch of people I now know only by weird screen names. Then after the race my best friend from Med school is driving down from LA to spend a day hanging out. And of course I'm sure I'll run into Matt, the roommie, who is going down to do his first Half IM with me. He is looking more and more like a porn star every day with that hideous mustache. It has fully grown in now, and he has been forced to run on the treadmill for fear of scaring the young children.

So it will be a busy but great weekend. Hope everyone out there has lovely weather for some great training or racing!

I'm Out!

:-)