After our morning swim and checking in at the race venue on Friday, I spent a little time on Friday afternoon packing my bags. My homestay has a pool table which made for a great height for laying out my gear for my bags.
I will wait until race morning to top my bottles with water so I prepared all my bottles with powder (only) and then laid out all my gear for race day.
Morning Clothes (also swim gear):
Sweatshirt and yoga pants (not pictured, I will wear over my Trimarni kit)
Trimarni tri top
Trimarni tri bottoms
Brooks Running sport bra
Sunscreen
Hair ties (4)
Body Glide
Sweatshirt and yoga pants (not pictured, I will wear over my Trimarni kit)
Trimarni tri top
Trimarni tri bottoms
Brooks Running sport bra
Sunscreen
Hair ties (4)
Body Glide
Chip w/ strap
Cap
Speedo Vanquisher goggles (tinted and clear)
Garmin 910XT
Cap
Speedo Vanquisher goggles (tinted and clear)
Garmin 910XT
Bike Special Needs (to turn in race morning outside Starbucks)
3 bottles, each filled with 300 calories of INFINIT custom drink (no protein, I will fill with water on race morning)
3 bottles, each filled with 300 calories of INFINIT custom drink (no protein, I will fill with water on race morning)
Run Special needs (to turn in race morning outside Starbucks)
2 flasks, each filled with 2 ounce NAPALM (100 calories each - I will also grab nutrition as needed/tolerated on course)
2 flasks, each filled with 2 ounce NAPALM (100 calories each - I will also grab nutrition as needed/tolerated on course)
Bike Gear
Giro attack helmet (no shield)
Oakley Women Commit shades
110% Play Harder compression socks
Garmin Edge 500 (will place on bike on race morning)
3 bottles each with 300 calories INFINIT (for first 56 miles of bike)
Bontrager shoes
Small hand towel
Giro attack helmet (no shield)
Oakley Women Commit shades
110% Play Harder compression socks
Garmin Edge 500 (will place on bike on race morning)
3 bottles each with 300 calories INFINIT (for first 56 miles of bike)
Bontrager shoes
Small hand towel
Run Gear
Race belt (safety pins attached) w/ bib number
Brooks pure flow running shoes
2 flasks (each filled with 2 ounces NAPALM)
My dad's favorite hat
(ribbons attached to all bags)
Brooks pure flow running shoes
2 flasks (each filled with 2 ounces NAPALM)
My dad's favorite hat
(ribbons attached to all bags)
After bags were packed, I did a little work on the computer and then we went out for dinner around 5:30 with our homestay friends, Ed and Judy.
We went to Benvenuto's, just down the road which is a delicious Italian Grill restaurant. Pasta and pizza is our typical 2 nights before a race meal so we were excited to keep our IM tradition alive here in Madison.
We first enjoyed a delicious salad w/ Focaccia bread and olive oil with fresh herbs and then it was time to yum over dinner...
Ed and I shared a super large veggie pizza (leftovers will come in handy in the middle of the night after the IM) and for our toppings: artichoke, red onions, spinach, pineapple and mushrooms.
Karel and I were pretty tired so by 9:30pm we were out and enjoyed 9 restful hours of sleep and once again woke up without an alarm.
After our pre workout snack (the usual, rice cake w/ banana slices, PB and cinnamon for me, waffles w/ almond butter and jam for Karel) and coffee/water, we did a 1 hour spin on the race course (leaving from Ed's house which is a few miles from the "stick" section of this lollipop like course) with the course dictating our intervals to wake up our legs. Even though Karel and I were riding together, we each did our own thing on the bike. We always do a short warm-up the day before the race to not only wake up the body but also to test out race gear just one last time. It was good that we did this because my Garmin Edge told me my power meter battery was low so I told Karel so that he could change it when we got back. Karel also charged our bikes on Friday night so they were ready to go for Sat drop off.
Although it was a little windy (not as bad as Thursday's 3 hour afternoon ride) the weather was amazing around 60 degrees!
After our bike we each went out for a short run, Karel did around 15-20 minutes and I did about 10 minutes. My legs felt good which was a great feeling since my last run was on Wednesday.
After our pre race warm-up, we cleaned up and had a recovery drink and then I got busy in the kitchen to make some yummy fruit and nut pancakes from scratch. We all enjoyed them, even Ed and Judy.
Around 12:30pm we double checked our bike and run bags (even though we can access them on race morning) and Ed drove us to the race venue to check in our gear.
Check-in was 10am-3pm so we arrived around 1pm and there was no line and everything went really smoothly.
The IMWI transition area is on the top of a parking garage and because it is very narrow it is extremely long. Combine this with running up the parking garage helix, going inside the Monona Terrace to grab our bags and enter the changing tents and then to get our bikes, this makes for a long transition time.
Although my bike is wedged tightly between bikes in the middle of our bike rack, Karel has a prime spot in the front of his rack.
We then dropped off our bags and mentally focused on where everything was located as the brain can get a bit turned around in a triathlon.
After we walked ourselves through the swim to bike, bike to run routine just one more time, we walked through the Ironman Village and checked out the finish line area and then headed home to rest for the rest of the day.
It was around 2pm when we arrived back home so we enjoyed a late lunch (we were snacking all morning and staying hydrated on OSMO hydration) and Karel had some leftover pasta and bread and I made myself some grilled tofu and basmati rice w/ tomato soup (from the can) and some pita chips on the side.
Thank you everyone for all your support, nice words and excitement for our race. We will absolutely take all that positive energy with us on race day and we both hope to have a safe, fun 140.6 mile journey tomorrow (with everyone else out on the ourse).
Athlete tracker
Marni - bib 729 (30-34 age group)
Karel - bib 401 (35-39 age group)
Marni - bib 729 (30-34 age group)
Karel - bib 401 (35-39 age group)
Also, our favorite mobile app for tracking:
And good luck to everyone else who is racing this weekend!!! Be safe, thank your body and enjoy the race day journey!