I am not sure if I mentioned it but tomorrow I am racing a half-Ironman just outside of Lawrence, KS. I have wanted to do this race for some time but it never worked with my schedule. I figured I would post to let you know what my day-before feelings are.
I have a pretty structured idea of what I wanted to accomplish today. I planned to get up at 7, get a 15 min bike in and a 15 min run, pack and get to Lawrence, go to race check-in, then mope about the rest of the day.
I hopped out of bed right at 7 AM. It is much easier to get up after 9 hours of sleep and with the sun above the horizon. I drank a pre-workout drink then headed out on my ride. This was my last chance to feel the bike out before the race tomorrow so I made sure to run through all the gears, press on the brakes and check my aero setup. Following the ride, I got my shoes on and took off on a nice run up the road. The legs felt great and I was finished before I ever got too comfortable.
This is the first time where I have done a HIM (half-Ironman) where I didn't have to fly or drive 12 hours to get to. I had not packed a single thing until I looked at my stuff this morning. It's getting fairly easy to remember exactly what you need for each leg of the race and it turns out everything was exactly where it should have been. The only thing I had to hunt down was GU Energy Gels and I picked those up once I arrived in Lawrence.
Getting to the race site was easy but parking was a mess. I ended up have to park the truck about a half mile away from check-in. This is also when I realized that T1 and T2 are in different locations. That meant another half mile walk to get my bike checked in. Now, don't call me a whiner but the last thing I wanted to do today was to walk around in the heat for two hours. It was not on the agenda.
Once I got the bike in place and hopped back in the truck with Alli, we made a dash for a light afternoon snack and headed back to her house. Another benefit of racing in Lawrence is that the different lives here. Therefore, not hotel cost, low gas cost and a home cooked dinner.
For dinner we had chicken, rice and potatoes. Oh, and a few pieces of chocolate. The key to the pre-race dinner is to eat it early enough in the night to allow for it to digest while you sleep. You would not want to have to use the rest room 3 hours into the race. I could not think of a more unpleasant experience.
The rest of the night has been dedicated to stretching, massaging and compressing. It's all about relaxing and that is very easy to do in a familiar place.
Tomorrow is looking to be a warm day with a lot of sunshine. If the wind can stay calm, the bike could be fast. My goal is 35 min Swim, 2:45 Bike, 1:55 Run for a total of 5:30. I think that would be an excellent race.
I'm off to bed; 4 AM will be coming soon.
Happy training!
Drew
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