I just went back and read my 2011 Pre Race Blog, and I am having all the same thoughts as last year. We just had a great group of people over, Alessandra who is also from Modesto and her family attended. I had no idea who she was until the Modesto Bee did the article on her and she had no idea who I was either. I knew it was her first year out here and figured I would invite her and her family to our potluck dinner. Cam Loos is staying here and also ate dinner with us, he will be flying the Navy colors tomorrow but is not the offical representative. Ryan and Donna who are out here for Team RWB to support the athletes also attended. And then my whole family, as well as some other people from the complex attended. It was a relaxing night after a very hectic day.
The day started out good, went out with Rob Hilton (the Marine Rep out here) for an easy spin. After we split off and I was about 2 miles from the hotel the morning decided to get a little stressful. I broke a spoke on my rear wheel and was not happy. It is the 2nd spoke in 3 weeks that has broke. Luckily Cam had an extra set of wheels here, actually Zipp FC 808 Clinchers, not a bad back up set to have laying around. So I threw those on the bike. To add more stress my valve extenders weren't long enough and his would work on my tubes. A quick hitch hike down to the expo area found me being picked up by Jordan Rapp's parents, small world to say the least. Jordan in my opinion is one of the favorites going into the race and should be at a minimum in the top 5. Between him and T.O. they are both of the American hopefuls for tomorrows race. With the new valve extenders all was good and the bike checked out fine.
Once the bike was already and my bags were packed for tomorrow myself and Cam headed down to bike check. It was a pretty quick process but a little unorganized. Macca showed up right as I was leaving and the crowd was all over him, so that was a sight to see.
Looking onto tomorrow here is my game plan in terms of times. Just keep in mind that IM is a long day and anything can happen.
My 2011 Prediction times:
Swim: 1hour to 1h05m
Bike: 5h10m-5h15m
Run: 3h25m-3h40m
T1/T2 Total-6m
Finish Time: 9:41-10:06
Last year I went 9:36 (1:04/5:14/3:11)
This years Predicition times:
Swim: 1hour to 1h05m
Bike: 4h55m-5h10m
Run: 3h0m-3h15m
T1/T2 Total-8m
Finish Time: 9:03-9:38
I always set big goals, and I lay it all on the line. Tomorrow is no different, I know you are looking at 9:03 and saying what is this guy thinking, you know what I am thinking tomorrow just may be the day that I finally have that perfect day and the stars align. That is the kind of day it is going to take to win the military division. It is STACKED this year, we have GREAT group of guys out here. The defending champ Rob Hilton went 9:19 last year and is back to defend that title, and I know the guy is in top shape, when would a Marine not be. Then you have Scott Jones in what he is calling the "best shape of his life", and no shit I saw the guy 2 days ago and he is looking like a lean mean fighting machine. Then Cam Loos is out here racing but not "officially" in the military category, and I have been staying with him for the past 7 days. He is in the zone and has everything dialed in, such a methodical guy and super smart. I have just been soaking in a lot from what I consider a great mentor. So no matter what happens out there tomorrow, I know one thing I will be surrounded by some great "competitors", but even better friends out there on the course. And don't let me forget to mention Jolene Wilkinson, my Air Force Teammate who is going to crush it out there. She is coming off a second place overall amateur finish at ITU Long Distance Worlds and she keeps me motivated knowing I have such a strong teammate. So all the best to my fellow military athletes out there tomorrow.
The training is done and all that is left till that cannon goes off is 10 hours. Time to get a little sleep and rest up for just another race. That is all it is, just another race with 2,000 of the fittest athletes on earth. BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE RACING!
If you missed the article in the Modesto Bee on Thursday, here is the link: http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/10/2409262/air-force-ironman.html
Also, I know a lot of you have been asking how to follow the race. There are going to be 8 timing points on the bike and 12 points on the run, so you should be getting updates quite frequently on the site or app as long as it is running properly.
My BIB # is: 1925
Website Link: http://kona.ironman.com/tracker.html
iPhone App (only available on iPhone): IM Trac
(Will give you same information as website just in an easy format to access and track multiple athletes)
Here is the bike all set up in Race Prep:
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