Arrived in PHX yesterday am. Carla and I met Timmy at the airport, flight was on time. We headed over to the athlete village and got checked in grabbed my bib #422 along with the other race paraphernalia. We shopped a little at the IM store and then hit the strip for a relaxing lunch. After lunch we drove the bike course, which was very helpful. It looks like a relatively flat course so the bike should be ok. We then headed out to Timmy's place and began to get our race day gear organized before heading back to Tempe for the IM dinner. The dinner was good, met some first timers as well as a 60 year old that's done this race every year in PHX (a total of 9 here). Post dinner we made it back to the house where we found Carla and Heather drinking, watching some Male Strip Movie with Matthew Mcconaughey and giggling like two little high school girls.
I got up at 4:45AM today and figured I'd get in my last blog update before the race tomorrow. This morning Timmy is taking me to his local lake for a morning swim and then a light run. Later this am we'll be headed back to Tempe to check our bikes in and drop off our race bags. Planning on chilling to the rest of the day, before grabbing an early light dinner.
The weather forecast is looking great. Low 50's in the am and high 70's and sunny all day. The sun rise is at 7AmM which is when the gun goes off. We'll be swimming into the sun for about 25 minutes and then we'll have it tour our backs the remainder. Water temps are about 62F, which is a little chilly but we'll warm up fast in the wetsuits. I've got my neoprene cap that I'll be sporting as well.
I'm rather certain that my feet will be numb getting onto the bike, but should warm up after about 3 hours into the bike ride. They are predicting a ENE 4MPH wind tomorrow. This means the ride only on the bike loop will be slightly uphill and into a mild breeze and the return (18 miles) we'll have the wind to our backs on a slight downhill grade. This should make for about a 16MPH out and a 22MPH return for a 19MPH average speed - if I can hold it. My plan is to push the bike hard so that I don't lose much time to Timmy, given he'll have a 30 minute lead on me out of the water. I think that I've got my nutrition dialed in for the race. I will be taking in 250 calories per hour on the bike and run via cookies, Gatorade, pretzels, PB sandwich, potato chips and Reese's PB cups. I'm saving my gels and shot blocks for the run. I plan on sucking down 25oz per hour on the bike and 30oz the last hour heading into the run. I'll need to be well hydrated and have my caloric intake under control coming off of the bike.
The run will be very interesting. My goal is simple, run a sub 4 hour marathon, which is anything but simple. This means I'll have to average a 9 minute mile.
My weight is about 176-177lbs and I've been getting my rest. Really have no excuses. Looking forward to racing on a flat course. Timmy is well trained and has dropped a bunch of weight. He'll be a lot to handle but I like to chase the carrot. Much better than being chased.
It's been 363 days since I signed up for this race. I cannot wait to be in the water in Sunday. All is good......
Shhhh...did you hear that? We all know what that was...........
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