Taken the tour...

The jet lag is still present, but getting better. I’m hoping by Sunday morning it will be gone.

John was up in the middle of the night with stomach problems. He was on the throne with his Pepto Bismo scepter in hand. All I remember was him shuffling around the room in the middle of the night. It sounded like he had sandpaper on his feet.

I still can’t sleep through the night. I was up for an hour at 6 am before I could get a couple more hours sleep.

It was another busy day. At breakfast I met a couple from Australia. The only reason the husband was doing the race was because he can’t stand watching and waiting for his wife to finish. I told him my family feels the same way, especially my son.

I also met a guy in my age group from Germany. He’s done 8-Ironmans and his best was around 9:45 when he was 25 years old. He did the race last year and didn’t finish for medical reasons. It sounds like he’s trained hard and would also like a spot for Kona.

It’s become apparent that there are a lot of serious athletes who are looking for a Kona spot. It is not a typical Ironman race atmosphere, not a lot of pleasantries. Even during training bikes or runs, about half the athletes aren’t waving back when you wave to them.

I’m not sure why. European Culture? Or just focused on getting a Kona Slot? Or they don’t want to start a conversation and know what level of competition they are up against or vise versa?

Like myself, I think a lot of them looked at the previous two years slower finishing times and felt it was an ideal race to get a Kona slot. Now I think the problem is that the pendulum has swung and the people here are much faster and competitive than previous years.

This race is much smaller than most Ironman races. I think there are only around 300 competitors in the full distance. My division, 45 – 49, has 60 competitors, the most out of any division. I’ve also noticed that most of the people appear to be ultra fit. I don’t see many “soft” looking people, which you’ll normally see at the North American races.

John and I went to the press conference this morning, while Simon went for a swim. When we caught up to Simon, he said the swim course was very much different than yesterday. The currents shifted, parts of it were now fowl smelling. At a harder effort than yesterday, his time was over a minute slower per lap due to the change in conditions. I’m glad he told me, now I won’t be over-confident or discouraged if my times are slower on race morning.

John, Simon and I ended up taking a taxi into town and had lunch and the only semi-healthy restaurant we could find, Pizza Hut. After lunch we did a little grocery shopping and headed back to the hotel for the bike course bus tour.

Our bike course guide was Jurgen Zack, who in 1993 set the record at that time for the fastest Kona bike split at 4:27. The course looked pretty fast with nicely paved roads and very few hills. The only potential downside is the air pollution and race day heat and humidity.

Simon mentioned that on the ride we did together yesterday, that the pollution caused his eyes to dry out. He normally doesn’t wear glasses, but is considering it for this race to combat the “eye drying” effects from the poor air quality.

We returned from the course tour just before the pre-race carbo loading meal started. I normally don’t attend these, but with virtually no were else to go to eat, it was a full house. It was much smaller than most Ironman events, with only about 500 total combined Ironman and half Ironman competitors. The small size brought back memories from when I did Ironman Canada in 1987 and we only had 600 competitors.

There was also not a lot of family or supporters. John and I agreed that if we brought Heather and Alice, they wouldn’t be enjoying themselves. There’s not a lot to do and it’s not the type of food they like to eat.

The one interesting statistic is that out of the 500 competitors, 47 countries are represented and the largest contingent is from Japan. When they asked for a show of hands, very few athletes were doing this race as their first Ironman. I figure that at least 70% of the athletes here are to attempt to qualify for Kona. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to qualify and it will even be tougher because the weather is expected to be 30C at over an 80% humidity level.

With all that said, I’m surprisingly calm. I have not yet had any pre-race jitters or fearful emotions. As we get closer to race day, that may change. I can’t say the same for John; he’s in anxiety mode right now.

John and I discussed it and we have two separate goals. Both are to race the clock, but from different perspectives. Mine is to finish in the least amount of time and his is to finish before he runs out of time. The cutoff time is 17 hours.

Before I call it a night, I want to thank everyone for their comments and well wishes. Normally I respond when I get them, but here in China with no blogger access I can’t. With that said, my response comment to everyone is “thanks again”; it feels great knowing you have people cheering for you.

Now, I’m off to bed, I’m very tired and hopefully I’ll be able to sleep in tomorrow. My stomach is rumbling right now, hopefully I’m not getting what John has and it’s nothing.

Taper Rest Day – No training.