Saturday, August 17, 2013

Ready, Steady.....

Spent the morning today getting everything ready and set up for transition tomorrow. I am impressed by the planning and production that goes into all of this. Compared to other triathlons where you set up 1 hour before the race in the dark using a headlamp, here we have 5 different bags to use, a massive change tent, volunteers who help us rack bikes, very cool indeed. 

How much gear does one triathlete need?:

I used the ironman checklist and added in a bunch of other things like contact lenses for after the swim in case I lose them in the water, extra tube and cartridges for the bike, etc....

The transition area was buzzing this morning as everyone checked in from 10am to 4pm. My shoulder has been acting up after holding Charlotte on my shoulders for the fireworks last night, so I got an ART massage as well as a more general quad and calf massage, feeling loosey goosey now as I have my feet up in the room. 

The Pros transition line up, they get a red carpet...


This is the red carpet we will run down to the transition area:


Some photos of my bike all racked and stacked, ready for action (hope to see her again around 8:10am):






In the early evening a Mass was held for the athletes, outside the chapel at a picnic table and lead by the IronFriar, a well known Franciscan Monk who also competes in Ironman races. He gave a simple but very personal message which brought a great sense of peace and calm to all of us.  



I am feeling amazingly calm as I write this. Thinking that all of the training and focus of the last year will be put to use tomorrow. My goal is to finish with dignity, in good enough shape that I will want to do another one some time in the future. Weather is shaping up to be very hot with high humidity, pretty unexpected as I thought this would be a cool race. Taking lots of endurolytes and gels!!

See you all in 140.6 miles!

1 comment:

  1. Riley and I are following your progress online, boet. We see you are done your swim!

    ReplyDelete

Ironman Finish Line - Go to clock time 13:16:19 to see me finish