Here Comes Ironman

Ironman is 8 days away and it's taken it's toll. The stress is not over yet.

First, let's start with the family. They love Lake Placid and they love Ironman. What's not to love for them? They get to be in a beautiful place and watch me suffer! Kidding aside, it is a great place to be on race day. The buzz is unbelieveable! And it is exciting for them to watch me. But I feel guilty because this is esentially their summer vacation. So, after this one is over, it's time to take a hiatus from Ironman. Three in the last four years is a lot. The training started the week of Thanksgiving so it's a long haul. Not just on me but the family. They suffer right along with me.

Second, I've had a good training period and I feel I'm ready to post a PR. But this past week I was out on a 20 mile ride when at 12 miles in, I broke a spoke. My trusty mechanic Juan is superb at what he does. He's the one I trust the most with my bike. He repaired the wheel but he couldn't do it the way it should have been done. He had to "Jimmy it". His words of wisdom were try it out before the race and see what happens. But in the meantime "start looking for a new wheel". This did not give me the confidence I was looking for so I started exploring options. Do I buy, rent, or borrow a bike? Luckily, a friend of mine had a set of 650 Bontrager's that are in great shape. So, I'm racing on his wheels next weekend.

Finally, I am still tuning my nutrition that is oh so important during this race. In 2007, bad nutrition on the bike crippled me on the run. I had the dry heaves at mile 10 and ended up walking 90% of the last 13 miles. Not a fun day. I came to the conclusion that Gatorade makes me sick after 2 hours of drinking it. Since I will be on the bike for about 6 1/2 hours, I need to look to replace it. I have one bike ride left to figure this out. The plan is to try Heed by Hammer which contains no sugar. It has a subtle flavor and contains enough calories and electrolytes to get me through. At this stage it's a little risky to try something new but I figured 2 1/2 hours on the bike drinking it exclusively should tell me something. The plan is also to drink more water on the bike something I usually don't do enough of.

Well, the excitement is starting to build. Still a lot to do before we shove off next Thursday. But it's all good. I have to keep the stress down this week or my wife will shoot me before I even make it to the start of the swim.