Pre-Race Report |
| Well, I left this report a little late. Lots of interesting things happened this week. I guess the best thing was staying with The Cochrane's in Penticton. For the last week, I have had my own room in a real house. I never realised how big a difference this could make. I also arrived eight days before the race and have had plenty of time to settle into the local scene. The mood at the house is great. Everybody is doing their own thing and it is a very harmonious household. A fantastic place to taper. I know that I am going to race better having been so relaxed all week. I am pleased that I managed to make it to more of the IM festivities this year. It was still pretty intense and I adopted a "day on" / "day off" policy. My "on" days were full of activity, checking in, registering, expo visits, swims, meetings with people. My "off" days were very low key. Mainly spent hiding from the sun in Brad's basement working on my laptop. The alternating policy seems to be the way for me to go. I managed to stay calm as well as being able to say hi to the many people with whom I have swapped e-mails in the months leading up to the race. The one word that I would use to describe my mood all this week is "centered". I have slept well and felt calm 95% of the time. It is a little strange just how good I have been feeling. Funny, sitting here thinking about it, I am actually worried about having nothing to worry about! Oh well, the mind is an interesting piece of machinery. No mechanical scares, no crashes (except for poor Mike) and no fevers/illnesses/colds. In short, it has been the perfect taper. I have been thinking about my preparations and aside from a few inevitable errors, I would have to give myself an good marks for getting ready for this race. My recovery was solid. I hit my key sessions fresh and managed to avoid doing too much in my taper. When the gun goes off tomorrow, I will know that I did everything possible to make it a good race. So.......... My predictions for game day. Swim 0:59:59 Not far off my goal time for IMOz of 9:50. Time for a new PR. Stretch goals. On a perfect day there is probably ten minutes of upside in that goal. I would like to think that my cycling fitness will result in at least a sub-10 effort for the day. Patience, execution, focus. Superstretch goals, I have no idea. If I have a day like Vineman then perhaps I can go quicker. Other than going under 10, I have no real time goals in mind. I just want to do my best - of course, some hardware would be greatly appreciated. I have myself mentally ready to suffer big time to shake Dave's hand. 10 and a 1/2 hours until that cannon goes off. Sleep well, gordo On to the Main EventBack to Race Reports |  Feeling VERY ready during my taper |