B2B Preview

Ok kids, here we go. Keep your hands and arms inside the trolley, it's going to be turbulent.

My final workout is in the books. I got 48 laps in the pool before they took down the lanes for a water aerobics class and threw me out. Time for rest, carb loading, fueling up and gearing down for the big race.

Tomorrow Kelley is supposed to pick up Jenny (my bike) from the shop with a brand new wheelset on her. Then she and the girls are coming to Raleigh, and I've really been missing them this week. All of them, Kelley, Jenny, and the kids. So guess what happens today?

Go ahead, think about it. I'll give you a minute.

Bigun comes down with the flu. Of course! No word if it's H1N1 or not, no telling where she caught it, but they treat all flu's the same now. So she's headed to the doctor tomorrow morning for some treatment. You know Evil Genius is going to catch it too. And with the flu, puking every few minutes, general misery all the time, there's no way she can stand 4 hours in the car. Actually, in that condition it would stretch the trip to more like 6 hours. And it would only make everyone here in Raleigh miserable once they got here.

So now the choices are, Kelley drops the sick kids off with someone and comes on to Raleigh. Or someone else comes to Raleigh to bring me the bike and accompany me to the race. If you would like to volunteer for either I can promise eternal devotion. Or at least a weekend in Wilmington on me.

South Carolina People, as a stereotype, are complete assholes. I'm sick of it, and sick of dealing with it. I don't want to say too much more than that or I will end up in a negative mood all day.

***UPDATE 11/5/09 10:51 AM***
Bigun does not have the flu. The doc this morning says that it's just a 24 hour bug and with tylenol and/or motrin she should be ok. Might have some carsickness during the travel to raleigh, but that would be all. I am incredibly glad.
*** End Update***

End of Rant.

Friday I'm taking a half day off from work and heading to Wilmington. It's only a couple of hours from here, and I'll pack everything up the night before. We've got to get checked into the hotel, packet pickup, required athlete meeting at 5 pm, and the expo. Then got to get the bags assembled and head to the T1 area to check in my bike. I've never had to check a bike the night before, so that should be fun. I'm going to tape all of the GU's I'll need to the top bar so they will be handy. Then we've got a ton of friends to touch base with, including some old fraternity brothers from the college days, and running friends, and blogging friends. I don't expect to sleep much friday night, but I sure am going to try.

I have no idea what time my wave starts or where I am supposed to be saturday morning. I'm hoping to discover that on friday. I know the 1.2 mile swim starts on wrightsville beach and goes back to the mainland. So it's somewhere over there.

The course and my goals:

Goal #1: basic survival.
When "don't die" is a target, you know you're in for a wild ride.

Goal #2: Break 7 hours
Here's how:

Goal #2a: Swim 1.2 miles in less than 42:28, which was the time from my Oly swim back in June. I set the goal then to beat that time, even going from the 1500 meter oly swim to 1.2 miles - isn't that about 2000 meters? The swim course is downhill - in a channel swimming with the current. Plus, I've been getting in tons of swim workouts and have improved endurance and speed since June. And I'll be in a wetsuit saturday, was not in a wetsuit in June.

Goal #2b: Transitions in 20 minutes or less. This one gives me some play, average t-time is around 5 minutes. Still, swim + transition should be less than one hour.

Goal #2c: Bike 56 miles in 3 hours. All of my training rides have been in hillier terrain and over 20 mph average speed. If the wind isn't too bad out there, 19 mph average is realistic and achievable. I picked this course because it is flat and fast. You just get up and go.

Goal #2d: Run 13.1 miles in 3 hours. I know in February I'm going to pound the Snail and break 2 hours in a half marathon. But after the swim and bike legs I have no idea how I'm going to feel. Just go. Run. Eat. Sweat. Bleed and/or puke if it comes to that. But finish the damn thing alive.

1 + 3 + 3 = 7. If I'm over 3 hours on the bike and less than 3 hours on the run, that's ok. If transitions go quick and the swim goes long that's ok. If I finish in 7:03 that's fine too.

Goal #3: Have fun. I can't wait to meet some bloggy peeps finally that I've been emailing for over a year now. You know who you are. I get to see some old friends and brothers. My little brother in the fraternity is running his first half ironman too. He had a brain tumor removed several years ago, so for him to be tri'ing at all is a miracle. I haven't seen him in several years, but that's just a matter of time. He lives in Raleigh too, and we've stayed close over the years. There are so many people that I hope to see while we're down there.

I want to soak up the whole experience. This will be the only time I get to do my first half iron. I want to take in the scene, the feel, the excitement, the experience, and really live in that moment. Lisa told me recently that I've been putting all these miles into a bank, and now it's time to cash them in. I know my training will carry me through the miles, just like it always has. I want to really live the miles this time. All 70.3 of them.

If you see me on the course, around the expo, anywhere anytime this weekend please say hi. Even if you've never commented but read the blog sometimes, I would really love to see you. I've only "been recognized" once from the blog and it was awesome! Your emotional support really means a lot to me, and quick "hey John, I read the blog" would bring a huge smile to my face. That would mean a lot about mile 12 of the run. Scroll down a few posts if you really want to know what I look like or what I'll be wearing.

After the race, I'm hoping for an IV recovery. You better believe I'm going to watch my fluids more carefully this time than I did at the marathon.

Goal #4: No trip to the ER during recovery. I'm going to take everything they offer me to cool down and rehydrate after the race. I'm going to take 4 GU's on the bike and 4 more on the run. Plus eat all the real food I can, they have bannanas and solid food at all of the aide stations. And salt capsules every hour too. I hope they are handing out free IV's at the finish line like some races do. I'll jump on that.

Goal #5: Ruth's Chris
If you've ever run a marathon, you know sometimes you just puke at the finish line (jab-jab-Sarah) and then your body just tends to shut down for a while. If I can still walk down there, I'm going to have dinner with Missy and Ryan at Ruth's Chris steakhouse, which has the same address as our hotel. There's no need to puke up an expensive steak, so Kelley has given it a 15% chance that I will actually make that dinner. Still, I know my motivations.

Notice that these goals are all progressive. You'll have to check the race report to see how many of them were actually accomplished. They don't have online athlete tracking for this race, but I'll be sure to bring the laptop in case we have internet access from the hotel. At a minimum, I'll see if Kelley can post my finish time on saturday, both here and on facebook. I'll try to write up the race report sunday. Wish me luck, I'm going to need all the support I can get out there! And good luck to you if you're also racing this weekend! I know Ironman Florida is also this weekend, but I don't think I know anyone down at the PCB this time. Besides Sarah who's volunteering.

Here goes nothing!