You can't wait for the day to come and then you want just one more day...or you need just one more day. If I only had one more day. Well, I have no more days and the time has come for me to put all that training to use. The bags are on the Great Lawn, the bike is sitting on the rack, my swim gear and timing chip are next to the door and I have nothing more to do than to sleep, eat and walk to the race venue with near perfect racing conditions.
It was great seeing Karel yesterday. He makes me laugh so much and with my parents here with me, I have lots of smiles going into this race.
Last night my family and I went to Bearno's Pizza and it was just what I needed. Good veggie pizza. Afterwards, I showed Karel the finish line at 4th street live and Karel joined me for the Athlete Meeting. The meeting was great and it was very informative and funny. There were so many athletes there, it was almost overwhelming. It was a great way to end the evening. After the meeting, Karel put together my bike (and his) and it was off to bed. It's tough to go to bed right now so I think all my nights of being in bed by 9:30pm are long gone and I'm lucky to be asleep at 10:30.
This morning was just what I needed. A good pre-race warm-up to get the blood flowing. Karel joined me for 8 miles of my bike ride. I turned around and Karel continued on. After my bike, which was beautiful, I did a 10 min. run around downtown Louisville. I am trying to stay confident so I can say that I have a good 16 miles of biking and 10 min of running in my system :)
After breakfast my parents and I drove part of the course. Thank goodness I did that! The course is very challenging and there are very few (if any, except the first and last 10 miles) flat parts on the course. You are either climbing or descending. I have prepared myself for a rolling course and I will be very smart on this course. Karel has given me many talks about riding and to not do anything beyond my training on this course. I have to "race" how I trained. Shawn has also told me to pay attention to my power since most of the athletes in past IMKY have had fast bike times and slow marathon times. Shawn told me that everyone slows down on the run, I will just slow down the least. I like it Shawn!
One of the best parts of having a super supportive and athletic husband is that I can send Karel out on the course while I relax. So, as a wonderful hubby, Karel rode the course (82 miles) without doing a second loop of the lollipop part of the course and told me all about it. One word....Challenging. He said it will be tough, to not think about a finishing time but to rather just focus on each part of the course (he had a map for me which he walked me through) and to be confident. Thank you Karel for riding the course for me......I know I didn't have to twist your arm to do it. :)
Later in the day my two close friends from my college swim team came to visit me. How awesome to see some familiar faces from Transy!!! Ash and Jenn came with me to check in my bike and gear bags and afterwards, we all went to my pre-race restaurant...OUTBACK!
After dinner it was back to the room for some more laughs and now, it is time to settle down. I am ready, I hope my leg is ready. My heart and muscles are strong, I hope I can mentally stay strong. I will do my best, I will pace myself and I will smile. Shawn told me that it is an accomplishment just to get to the starting line for an Ironman so my next goal is to get to the finish line.
When we had swim meets in college we would always decorate each others dorm rooms or hotel rooms. Thank you Jen for making me my signs!
It was great seeing Karel yesterday. He makes me laugh so much and with my parents here with me, I have lots of smiles going into this race.
Last night my family and I went to Bearno's Pizza and it was just what I needed. Good veggie pizza. Afterwards, I showed Karel the finish line at 4th street live and Karel joined me for the Athlete Meeting. The meeting was great and it was very informative and funny. There were so many athletes there, it was almost overwhelming. It was a great way to end the evening. After the meeting, Karel put together my bike (and his) and it was off to bed. It's tough to go to bed right now so I think all my nights of being in bed by 9:30pm are long gone and I'm lucky to be asleep at 10:30.
This morning was just what I needed. A good pre-race warm-up to get the blood flowing. Karel joined me for 8 miles of my bike ride. I turned around and Karel continued on. After my bike, which was beautiful, I did a 10 min. run around downtown Louisville. I am trying to stay confident so I can say that I have a good 16 miles of biking and 10 min of running in my system :)
After breakfast my parents and I drove part of the course. Thank goodness I did that! The course is very challenging and there are very few (if any, except the first and last 10 miles) flat parts on the course. You are either climbing or descending. I have prepared myself for a rolling course and I will be very smart on this course. Karel has given me many talks about riding and to not do anything beyond my training on this course. I have to "race" how I trained. Shawn has also told me to pay attention to my power since most of the athletes in past IMKY have had fast bike times and slow marathon times. Shawn told me that everyone slows down on the run, I will just slow down the least. I like it Shawn!
One of the best parts of having a super supportive and athletic husband is that I can send Karel out on the course while I relax. So, as a wonderful hubby, Karel rode the course (82 miles) without doing a second loop of the lollipop part of the course and told me all about it. One word....Challenging. He said it will be tough, to not think about a finishing time but to rather just focus on each part of the course (he had a map for me which he walked me through) and to be confident. Thank you Karel for riding the course for me......I know I didn't have to twist your arm to do it. :)
Later in the day my two close friends from my college swim team came to visit me. How awesome to see some familiar faces from Transy!!! Ash and Jenn came with me to check in my bike and gear bags and afterwards, we all went to my pre-race restaurant...OUTBACK!
After dinner it was back to the room for some more laughs and now, it is time to settle down. I am ready, I hope my leg is ready. My heart and muscles are strong, I hope I can mentally stay strong. I will do my best, I will pace myself and I will smile. Shawn told me that it is an accomplishment just to get to the starting line for an Ironman so my next goal is to get to the finish line.
When we had swim meets in college we would always decorate each others dorm rooms or hotel rooms. Thank you Jen for making me my signs!
