22. Race Week - Daz 4/12/11

Full taper mode for race week - Mon swim 1.6k, Tuesday ride 30k, Wednesday run 6k, Thursday early morning pool swim 1.6k and then we headed down to Busso late morning...

Busso
We checked into our accommodation and then the 3 Amigo's went to registration and the IM expo. A very painless experience - as registration is held over 3 days. Checked out the expo and bough a t-shirt, bidon and bottle opener as souvenirs - as it is probably my last IM race... Expo was pretty lame, the IM merchandise was a bit avg I thought also. I would have liked a IM polar fleece, but it was 32 degrees and I couldn't bring myself to even try one on!

We headed back to the 'resort' and then got changed for a ride, to check out the new bit of the course that we hadn't seen before. Did some race paced efforts and rode for about 25km. The legs definitely felt toey and ready to fire!

Friday
The 3 Amigo's headed down to the jetty for a swim session and did about 1km or so pretty easy. Rat & I practised a bit of drafting, which in the lumpy conditions, is a bit harder. The water was a bit rough and is probably going to be that way on race day. We then headed back to El Rancho Relaxo for a quick change, jumped on our bikes and cruised around a bit of the town part of the bike course. Then a short brick run for about 4k. Training was now finished, it was time for carbo loading...2 days of 900g of carbohydrates!

We went down to the official opening/presentation and race briefing tonight, after having our own dinner at home. It went on for ages but showed some great footage on a massive big screen. The briefing was brief, but the whole thing went half an hour late and I was busting for a wee!

Saturday
Lazy day, laying low and staying of our feet - that was the plan for the day. We took the kids up to the jetty for a swim and Rat and I did about 400m in our bathers. It felt a little cooler than yesterday, but we soon acclimatised to the temperature. We practised lining up the finish shoot with one of the big pine trees, so as to assist tomorrow. We skulked around, packed our T1 and T2 bags, put our nutrition together and then took our bikes into transition. It started to really hit home then. Tomorrow was race day. 12 months in the planning, 2 years since the last one. It was all down to execution of the plan tomorrow. The weather is looking like it will be tough, hot and windy.

I'll write up a race review on Monday.