My Race Pile is Complete !

I AM DONE !!! Only with gathering the stuff that I need for the race in a pile. Can you see the worried look on my face ?

That took almost a day to put together and I am still not 100% sure but this is as good as it will get I guess at this point I need to get moving and finish packing.

Mefisto is ready to go too !

The list of 'Stuff' needed for the race

First step of packing- making an anal list.

Luckily I have my lists from my previous IM's which I can do a sanity check from it seems like with each IM the list is growing ? Hmm...

I feel like I am actually moving and not preparing for a 1 day race.

Did I forget anything ? Geesh it is like going on a road trip and thinking whether you turned off the coffee pot 2 hour into the drive.


To Wear:
========
2 bike shorts
2 jerseys
2 sport bras
2 running shorts
2 running tops
2sweatshirts ( for race start and end & Run special need)
Swimsuit
Cycling shoe
2 running shoes

Misc:
=========
Sunglasses
Helmet
2 bike gloves
Lucky teddy bear towellette
White trash bags
Ziplocs
Duck tape (wrapped on a pencil - 2 of them in each special need bag)
Small swissarmy knife
Timex watch
Garmin gps
Bike computer ?
Black permanent marker
Swimcap
2 pair goggles
Championchip strap
Wetsuit
Race bag
Race number strap
5 pairs of socks
Blister shield roll on
2 Polar bottles
Aerobottle
Saddle bag with stuff (sliding lever,2 innertubes..)
Sandals
Reflective anklets
Towels ( 1 for each transition)

CVS:( as Twig says)
================

Peptobismol
Tylenol
Bandaids
Blistershield
clear nail polish
Deodorant
Bug off ?
Biofreeze
Antifog for goggles
Moleskin


Nutrition:
============

Pringles
Cheese combos - 2 packs
Perpetuem - 10 servings
Hammerbars - 8
Hammergel - flask and 6 packets
Recoverite - 1 packet
Antifatigue capsules
Altitude advantage tablets
Hot tamales
Candied ginger
Peppermint Gum

Sequence of events for Ironman Austria with pictures from Last year.

Sequence of Events for Ironman Austria

Right before the swim start, there will be approximately 2400 entrants going into the swim at the same time.

And the 2.4 mile swim, which is also called the 'washing machine' now this part is kind of intimidating for me since I have not done a 'mass start' before.
Have to swim defensive to avoid kicks elbows.

We end the swim in a canal which is kind of cool !








Picking up the transition bag for bike gear.

View from the transition area with all the cool bikes !

After transitioning into bike gear,
Start of the 112 mile bike course.

Bike Course Profile

To give you an idea, Buckhills steepest part is 11% and sugarloaf's first half is about 15%

Then the 26.2 mile run

AND THE FINISH LINE !

2 Weeks to Race Day

2 weeks to race day :

Saturday headed out to San Antonio ( Dade City) to ride the hills with Ilene who will also be doing the race. It was a good experience because I have not been riding any hills this year to prepare for the race. It hurt but I was able to do a 5 mile run on the treadmill after that. It was only a 52 miler since I have started my taper but gave me an idea on how my body will react to the hill -- OUCH !

I thought of all the late night B&J affairs - boy was I paying for them now dearly with the 15 pounds I put on in the last 6 months.





Next day we did an open water swim at St. Pete , the water was a little rough so was only able to get in 30 minutes, here we are before starting out.

This week My taper has officially started. Yesterday my training schedule had a 60 mile ride and an 8 mile run.

I was not able to finish the 8 mile run ( due to the spare tire I decided to add to my waist the last month !! and the feeling of being poisoned from last nights Chocolate indulgence) did only 4.

However I was very fresh afterwards and was able to resume a 'Normal Person's Saturday' activities that included drinking from a glass instead of sipping through a sportscap.

Side Note: When I spend more time on my bike saddle than on the couch I lose the ability to drink any liquids from a glass, weird feeling ( some of you probably know what I am talking about)

This year I have been working with my coach Dominick Castellano who geared my training to my individual needs, and gave me just the right amount of recovery to get the most of my workouts. I have been doing weight training which I believe helped me immensely in all 3 disciplines. My recovery times from long/key workouts have almost been cut in half.

I always felt undertrained, but after each long brick workout ( long bike followed by a run) I saw surprisingly that I was getting stronger every week.
In my previous Ironmans' I definitely was overtraining piling on junk miles, workouts.

My typical weekly workouts consisted of:
2 runs, 2 swims ( sometimes 1 ), 1-2 spinning classes, 1 long bike. ( sometimes followed by a long run)

This year I feel very strong, if only I had not sabotaged myself with my binges, and gained 15 pounds while training I feel I could have completed this IM in less than 14 hours. I am hoping to shed a couple of them off until the race but cant be too aggressive this close to the race regarding weight loss which could lead to power loss.

Now all my goal is to finish within cutoff without any problems.

My Key/long workouts have been as the following:

Week 8 : 62 mile bike ride - 4 mile brick run - back to back
Week 7 :116 mile bike ride - 15 mile run.
Week 6: 105 mile bike ride - 2 hour swim
Week 5: 30 min swim/80 mile bike/10 mile run - all 3 back to back.
Week 4: 15 mile run, 90 miles ride
Week 3 : 70 mile ride/10 mile brick run- back to back.
Week 2: 2.4 mile swim, 14 mile run,
Week 1: 96.5 ride/6 mile brick run - back to back.

3 Weeks to go !

IM Austria .. hmmm.. why this one ?

You know how life throws stuff ones way, and you either catch it or let it drift away.

My friend Ilene from Tampa wanted to be her first IM distance event a WTC sanctioned
one and her riding buddy Andrea chose this one.

I do IM's on odd years and got kind of tired of doing the GFT course everytime, the time was around the time where I would be visiting my mother in Turkey, so I decided to do a stopover, complete the event and then continue to Turkey this year for a change.
After all the similar plan had worked like a charm when I did the ITU Worlds in Sater Sweden in 2004.

So thats how it all started.

Of course excuses/explanations are abundant if you want something bad enough right ?