One Day Until the IRONMAN 70.3

It’s the “it” accessory for tomorrow!

I am checked in, my bike is racked, my clothes are packed, and I’m ready to go.  So, here’s what’s going on.

It’s been raining, which may mean that the water quality is too low and the swim is canceled.  If the swim isn’t canceled, then we deal with the issue of water temperature. The water is warmer than expected so whether the race is wetsuit legal, wetsuit optional, or no wetsuits allowed will be decided when they take the water temperature tomorrow. So I might have to decide whether to wear a wetsuit or not at the last minute.

It’s way hotter than it was predicted to be when I signed up for this. I trained for heat tolerance but I wish I had done more –  heat is definitely not my friend when I’m trying for speed.

When I went to the course briefing the guy doing it laughed and said that he’s been doing this for years and couldn’t believe that he had to talk about inclement weather. Then told us that there may be lightening storms during the race (which we knew since all of us were obsessively checking the weather reports and talking about it online.)  I’ve definitely practiced riding in the rain but it’s not that fun, this course has a ton of sharp u-turns, and it just makes the bike more treacherous.

They aren’t doing changing tents (that was my misunderstanding – they do them for the fulls and not for halfs.) This is a problem because I change fully out of my swimsuit and then into my bike shorts.  I practiced transitions for about 30 minutes this morning and i have the clothing change to about 2 minutes which will work – in the worst case scenario I will have 10 minutes in transition and in that scenario I should still be fine.

Finally, they aren’t doing gear bags (where you put the clothes for each section into a bag and then they hand you the bags as you head into transition.)  That means that I have to set up absolutely everything for both transition in the very small space under my bike which pretty much sucks.

This kind of unexpected stuff is an expected part of the sport and whether or not I cross the finish line tomorrow is totally on me, and if I don’t that just means I didn’t do enough, and that will good information to have as I move forward to prepare for the full next year.

So the bottom line is the same thing that it’s always been – I may well cross the finish line tomorrow.  And I may not. Stressing out doesn’t help so I keep reminding myself that this is the halfway point test for my journey to the IRONMAN next year.  So as much as I want to finish (and as disappointed as I’ll be if I don’t) I’m trying to remember to treat this like a learning experience to get information that will help me (and help Steve and Ingrid help me) to be more ready for the full next year.

All of the IM volunteers have been completely amazing, everyone has been friendly and I haven’t dealt with even an iota of fatphobic BS which has been awesome. Despite three separate letter-writing campaigns by my trolls I had absolutely no trouble checking in or with my bike (and they say that I’m an ineffective activist?!)

For now I just want to say huge thanks to:  Julianne, Mom, Kelrick, Kenny and all the family and friends who have supported me, called, texted, commented, and e-mailed to wish me luck.  My coaches – Steve and Ingrid. My blog readers and FB and Twitter friends who have supported my journey this far.

One more day to half way…

Like this blog?  Here’s more cool stuff!

IRONMAN Sale:  I’m having a sale on my books and DVDs and downloads to help pay for my IM – you get books and dance classes, I get spandex clothes and bike parts. Everybody wins! To check it out, you can go to https://ironfatblog.wordpress.com/support-my-ironman/ No money?  No problem!  If you feel like it, you can leave a comment or send me an e-mail (ragen@ironfat.com) saying something encouraging, that’s incredibly helpful as well!

If you have questions about my IRONMAN journey  the FAQ might help!

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