It's not the jeans...

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The following equipment is nearing replacement:

Mizuno Wave Alchemy 11 - Work: 391.99 / 400 miles

inspire me (14)

June 21

Swim

1h 26m 20s
4224.00 yards
02m 02s /100 yards

Bike

7h 15m 28s
112.00 miles
15.43 Mi/hr

Run

5h 20m 58s
26.20 miles
12m 15s /Mi

#2450

inspire me (11)

June 20

Swim

10m
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Once again, my BT family is SO COOL!!! Thanks everyone for the great inspires over the last few days - I've been crazy busy and haven't had a chance to respond to each one or to do much inspiring of my own!

I'm nervous and excited about tomorrow. I thought I had until Sunday to turn in my transition bags, but I have to take them today, so it was a scramble yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday I went to athlete's dinner and the mandatory meeting, met up with McFuzz and Birkierunner as well as my club and my buddy from CA who entered because I was doing it and he thought it sounded like a good challenge.  This will be his first tri, too. It was great to see everyone. Oh yeah, and I got to shop in the IM store - got a trailer hitch cover among a bunch of other Mdot branded stuff I don't really need. It WAS fun, though.

Today it's bike (AND bag) check-in, so I'm doing the last-minute things. I will swim briefly in the lake again, but hate to get my longsleeved wetsuit wet - I'm thinking about taking my sleeveless and cap for today and leaving the other one in my nice warm house. Hmmm, decisions decisions.

It looks like rain and about 62 tomorrow, so instead of dealing with heat which I was sort of expecting for the whole year, I'm now thinking about what I need to stay warm. The water is about 65, so this may be the only time for this race where the water is warmer than the air.

And my daughter woke up with a sore throat today, so of course as soon as she said that mine started to hurt! Thinking of the mom with Strep who was talking with me on Weds... Yes, paranoia is part of taper madness. :)

inspire me (10)

June 19

Run

48m
4.87 miles
09m 51s /Mi

Z1-Z2 run with 5, 1-minute pickups. Not sure if it felt good or not to be out running. :)

inspire me (11)

June 18

Swim

30m
1000.00 yards
03m /100 yards

Guess on time and distance. Swam three buoys out and three back on the IM course today in the big waves. First waves I've been in this year. It was a huge struggle at first, until I remembered to relax and go with it. Went out too hard and by 15 minutes my shoulders and arms were tired.

Note to self - go out EASY!

Met BT's own dcossey today before the swim - we're such a cool community!

Bike

43m
10.62 miles
14.82 Mi/hr

Short spin out toward Higgin's point, then back on the course through town. Fun ride, felt good to be on the bike.

The bike is still making that dumb noise. And it still stops when I stand up. I tightened the seatpost last night, today it's the seat and the x-lab thingie. Still hoping for the best, but at least it isn't the crank or the wheel or anything...I hope. One thing for sure, I will NOT be standing on the hills on Sunday...

I'm once again employed. :) I think this company is going to be a good fit for me, and that I'll be a good fit for them. It is similar to what I've done before just in a different department. The company is built on detailed strategic planning and while fairly new has been growing since it was started. And finally, my new manager is an ex-triathlete turned cyclist, at least two people on the 5 or 6 person team (besides me) are doing tris this summer. It was a tough decision as the first offer was also very attractive, just for different reasons. I'm really excited about getting started, but set my start date out in July to have a bit of a break.

Now I can truly focus on the Ironman STRESS!! Dreamed about it last night and woke up wondering where my chamois creme was.

Today I'm going out early to swim the course and maybe ride a short part of it. Then I'll register before coming home and obsessing about what goes in which bag. All of a sudden (and really, I mean that - the job thing masked a lot) it seems so REAL!!!

Can't wait! Oooo, I think I feel some more lists coming on!

inspire me (10)

June 17

Bike

45m
10.89 miles
14.52 Mi/hr

Rode out watching the sky hoping the rain would hold off until I got home.

The noise is still there - I hear it mostly when I'm pushing a low gear up a big hill. I tried everything and can't find where it might be coming from. Finally I thought maybe the seatpost. I can't wiggle it when I'm not riding, but I tried standing up. I didn't hear it while I was standing so I tightened the bolts when I got home. Here's hoping for the best!

Run

15m
1.66 miles
09m 02s /Mi

Transition run. I missed yesterday's run so this is the first run since Sunday. C'mon legs! They felt kind of heavy and slow at first but it sort of worked out by a mile or so in.

Colleen's advice for avoiding taper madness:

1. Change the school schedule so the last week for three kids is the last week of taper.
2. Interview and evaluate not one, but two really attractive jobs during that week.
3. Set the deadline for acceptance/rejection of both jobs for that week.
4. Have your bike start making a noise that you cannot find the weekend before the race

Yup - good thing I'm not actually training much this week! I just can't notice the taper madness in the midst of the general madness!