The night before the race.

It is the night before the race.  I have my bike checked in and my gear bags together I am fed, watered and ready to go. I have been watching the weather all week and it looks like it will be perfect for racing.
We had a nice BBQ at our hotel with Garnet and Karen and watched the Eskimos play the Riders.
Now with less than 10 hours until the start I am going to settle in for a good nights sleep.  I need to get up at 4AM.
Deb has done so much work and preparation to make sure I have everything I need. I really can't thank her enough for all of her help... but I will try to.
 There is a sign on the door of our room that says,
"It is not about the time you get, it is about the time you have."

Breakfast is ready, all of my stuff is ready and I am ready.

We are on the road to Penticton!

Today we packed up the bikes, dogs and all the gear. We are on the road to Penticton! The time has flown by this summer and I am surprised how quickly race day is approaching. Getting ready this morning, checking the lists, packing the car, it all seems like it is not really happening yet I know it is.
This is it. All the training and preparation is leading me down this road. I feel good and ready to go. I am sure I could have trained harder and tried to be even more prepared. How can I know if I have done enough? Race day will answer that question.  I feel calm and relaxed today and Deb drove most of the 800 kilometer drive to Kamloops.  We will head into Penticton in the morning and settle into our hotel for the rest of the week. If the race was tomorrow I feel ready to go. I just need to keep my nerves in check for the rest of the week, remember to relax and enjoy the journey.

Ironman 2010 Master List


Day Before
Bike check in
Bike
Bento box
Spare tube
2 Air cans

Race morning breakfast
Kashi go lean & skim milk
Peach yogurt
Coffee with sweetener and skim.
Toast with PB and jelly
OJ

Race morning to the starting line:
Bike pump
3 bottles Gatorade for bike
1 water bottle
Sweats
Hoodie
Sandles

Swim Start
Tri top
Bathing suit
Goggles
Swim cap
Wet suit
Timex HR strap
Timex watch

T1 - Swim to Bike
Small towel
Bike shorts
Bike shirt
Sunglasses
Helmet
Bike shoes
1 Banana Dog
4 bars
4 gels



Bike Special Needs bag
Spare tube
2 Air cans
Kleenex
2 bottles Gatorade
Ensure
Power bars
Cliff bars
4 gels
Baby carrot
Band aids
Nibs
Salt tablets
Advil

T2 Bike to Run
Socks
Running shoes
Hat
Tri shorts
Garmin watch (GPS OFF)
Garmin HR Strap
Nathan Belt stocked with
Salt
Kleenex
Gatorade
3 Gels
1 Powerbar

Run Special Needs bag
Long sleeve shirt
Banana dog
Gatorade
2 Powerbars
4 gels
Advil
Moleskin or tape
Nibs
Slice of Pizza

Finish line
Chocolate milk
Big Turk
Hoodie and Sweats

The last ride

 Deb is running a half marathon tomorrow so we went and picked up her race package. I seems like it would be a fun race to do but it is too close to IMC. for me to do it.  We were concerned that the smoke was going to hamper the race but it seems to be dissipating.  I went out for a nice bike ride. As I rode west from Devon for a few hours, I was feeling pretty good and the smoke didn't bother me at all.  This is the last weekend before the big race and most likely the last ride at home before we head to Penticton.
I hope I have done enough.

Avoid strenuous outdoor exercise.

Tapering this week has been tricky. I feel like I really want to go.  I was out of town for a few days and so I did not do too much except work crazy long days. Wednesday I went to the pool and get in a really good swim.  Smoke from forest fires in Northern BC have caused the air quality in Edmonton to be very poor. The City Health department was recommending people stay indoors and avoid strenuous outdoor exercise. 
I decided to scrap the idea of a long run and go to the YMCA and hit the pool, followed by a 40 min. run on (gasp!) the treadmill.

One more long run.

Today I got up early. I finally have a day to do do nothing but train.
7:15 at the pool for a full up 3.8 K swim.

10Am back home and out on the bike for a 100k ride. I went west all the way to St Francis.

The fields are changing colour and it is starting to look more like the end of summer.

Back home for a very tough 10k run. A great workout and I needed that.
If I can get in one more long run this week, then I think I will be ready to taper.

A great run!

One of the runs I did was to run from my house in Riverbend through the river valley up to the LRT bridge and back! A fun 23km run. I even ran back across the Quensel bridge even while it is still under construction.

Just a delay

Some days it is tough to get going.  I have a lot of excuses but none of them will matter. I have been slammed with work the past few weeks so I have had to juggle me workout schedule quite a bit.  I have not been able to get out with the team so I have had to do the workouts on my own.

I missed the long ride with the team on Saturday so I wanted to get in a long ride on Sunday after I finished work. There are only a few weeks of hard training to do before I start to taper for the big race.
When I went to head out for a ride and as I was putting more air in my tires, I pulled the stem off the tube. Not a big problem just a delay.  I managed to get in a great 90K ride to the west of the towards Telfordville.