Quick Check-In

Hey guys!

Just popped in for a quick blog post before I take a nap...  

which will precede our banquet dinner tonight.  

Yay!

One thing I've been looking forward to was the time change.  Usually people complain about having to adjust.  In my case, I'm actually doing my best to NOT adjust; it gives me a leg up on race day.  I was awake around 4AM PST today (7AM EST) and was up by 4:30AM.  I headed out and did a quick four miles on a very dark road (thankfully there weren't many cars).  And you'd think "Oh, 4:30am, it must have been chilly."  You'd be wrong.  It was already 75F.  But the worst part is that I can FEEL the low humidity. 

Unfortunately, my hotel's breakfast didn't start until 6:30, but I had some food I got from the grocery store last night.  I took a quick hour nap and then hit up breakfast.  It feels AWESOME to have gotten up, exercised, showered, snacked, and napped all before breakfast!

I got to athlete check in around 9AM and got all my goodies....

Tech shirt, Ironman/Powerbar backpack, Marines Nalgene water bottle, a race poster (not pictured), and the typical product samples and brochures.

I know that this is only my second Ironman event, but the athlete check-in area had TONS of product representatives.  You name it, it was there.  I stopped by a bunch of them - profile design, CEP, 110%, Powerbar, Ford, one of those negative ion wristband things, etc.  And let me tell you, I've been quite skeptical of those negative ion wristbands, but found the guy's demonstration quite impressive; might have to do a bit of research.  Then with three copies of the map (I printed one, the race packet had one, and the program had one), I headed out to check the run course.  I'm both excited and weary of the course.

It took some driving around and multiple stops at the info desk to figure things out, but once I did so, the course is quite simple.  It's three loops consisting of two out-and-back's each.

I personally prefer frequent turns to straightaways, but I'll live.  The first out-and-back, though, is on a paved - and tree SHADED - path.  That is going to REALLY help on the first lap to let your body acclimate more slowly and on the 2nd and 3rd laps to cool us off a bit.  The second out-and-back, however, is a rather long low incline.  It's only about 500ft, but it's a constant incline.  The big plus to this hill is that you get to run right back DOWN it once you hit the top.  The biggest thing I'm fearing is how I'm going to handle three loops mentally.  I crashed just into my second loop in Providence and I'm not sure if it was more physical or mental, but I know I prefer single loops.  We'll see how it works on race day.

After all that jazz, I headed to a local bike shop - literally called The Bike Shop - to get some CO2 cartridges and the more necessary skewers.  Once I did that, I went right to work putting my bike back together on the sidewalk in front of the shop.  They even started poking fun at me every time I came back in - I got my skewers, then I had my tires pumped, and finally I had to have a spoke on my back tire replaced.  I'm assuming one of the spokes got too much pressure in the transport over and busted.  Easy fix, but a bit frustrating.  Either way, it's back together and race worthy.

Lastly, I stopped over to Target to try and jimmy-rig my Profile Design Aerobottle.  While I was talking to the guys at the Profile Design tent, I realized that the new bottle holders came with velcro straps to hold the bottle in place as opposed to the rubber bands I have; those looked brilliant.  I was going to buy a whole new holder, but figured I could just get some velcro at Target for a bit cheaper.  We'll see how it works.  If I tell you I bought a new holder tomorrow, then you know how that turned out.  =P

Oh!  One more thing...  I jjust checked Weather.com and found that compared to the previous race day forecast, it looks like it's going to be quite a nice day (though I wouldn't mind a sprinkle here or there *cough*cough* Mother Nature!)

Ok.  I need to munch on something, get this velcro in place, and rest a bit before the banquet and athlete meeting tonight.  Best of luck to anyone racing this weekend (sorry I've been a bit out-of-the-loop on everyone's on-goings).

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Questions

1.  Are you a morning person?  Do you do morning workouts and love it?
I wish my work schedule allowed for me to be an early riser.  Unfortunately, I'd have to skimp on sleep in order to do so and my body doesn't take kindly to that.

2.  Have you ever tried one of those negative ion watches or bracelets?  If so, did you notice an effect?

3.  What's your preference - single or multiple loop course? (for any event)
While multiple loop allows you to better yourself on subsequent rounds, I mentally prefer a single loop course. 

Stay fit.  Stay healthy.  Stay safe.