Countdown begins...

In 18 days, I'll be at the swim start line of Ironman St. George. That doesn't give me much time to prepare. Even with having to take some time off due to my China "bug" and now a sore Achilles and a little burnout, I'm still looking forward to doing the race. Everyone keeps telling me I have the "physical base to do it and not to worry".

I'm going back and forth with Luis and his team at MAO and trying to figure out the best plan for the next 18 days. Of course, they are wondering if I should do it at all if I'm not feeling well. I'm too far committed to pull out now and I don't think I'm that bad.

I can't lose sight that I have 18 days to go and I'm an optimist, if anyone can pull this off, it's me. I've been looking at the course and factoring in my health and I don't believe this will be a PB race and I don't care. I'm just anxious to put another Ironman finish "notch on my belt buckle". The cycling and run profiles look crazy, I've included them above. The bike course it the one with the two "Madonna looking" boobies.

Johan rode the course on his compu-trainer and gave me a complete overview. I've copied and pasted it below so I can easily refer back to it. I also hear the water is going to be COLD and the run HILLY. It can also be hot, cold and windy all in the same day. Endurance Nation rode and ran the course and there report is here.

It feels like I'm doing my first ever Ironman. With less training than normal leading up to the race, it's definitely "Old School Training". I'm waiting to hear from Luis, but I'm hoping they allow me to do one more long ride before the race. Just as a muscle confidence booster.

For the next 18 days I'm going to focus on two things, quality training and healthy diet. I think the two will work hand and hand. My goal is to show up at the race physically healthy and mentally excited. I want to feel ready to embrace the day and regardless of my time, enjoy the race.

I've already been mentally preparing myself for more pain than usual. The approach I'm taking is "it's fun to be alive and there is no place I'd rather be". When the pain gets bad, I'm just going to tell myself, "this is what I signed up for, the only way you get to this ENLIGHTENED state is by doing an Ironman, enjoy every painful second of it and don't cry too hard when the going gets tough, it can be dehydrating".

Last night I was over indulging in food and drink right up until midnight. I managed to finish off all the Lemon Meringue pie. It was my last meal, like the one death row prisoners get before going into the "chamber". Today was the start of my clean and boring living until IMSG. So far, so good.

Oh, one last thing, I signed up for the Mercedes 10 KM road race the week before IMSG. I figure it will be a good quality speed work session and I'm going to do it with Nazaire, Alyssa's boyfriend. It was $60 to register per person, what a rip-off.

However, there is a draw where you can win the use of a Mercedes for a year. They'll be drawing a bib number. If I win the car, the entry fee will have seemed reasonable, maybe even a little cheap.

Rest Day - Injury & Burnout

Johan's Course Evaluation

The course on Computrainer has the first 36 km out and then one lap of 72km but on race day you gonna do two 72km laps.

As you said it is a hilly course and I can second that, it is very hilly.

The first 6.5km is flat and then you will have 2.5km downhill(dh).

From 9 to 12.3km it's uphill between 3 and 4% gradient.

Then it's dh again until the 15km mark.

This continue until the 28km mark(rolling hills with no major hill)

At the 28km mark you will encounter your first hill with a gradient of between 5.5 and 6% and it last for 7km until the 35km mark. The last 3.5km of this hill is at between 2 and 3%.

From 35km to 39km it's dh with some flat sections.

From 39km the climb starts at a steady but not to bad gradient of between 1 and 3%. This last until the 74km mark with a short dh at the 50km mark( about 700m)

At 74km you will encounter your first hard hill with a gradient which starts at 6% and builds up to 9.5% and drops again to 6%. The hill is 1.5km long.

From 75.5km to 78km it's a flat section.

At 78km waits another hill of 2.5km with a 6% gradient

From 80.5k to 90.5 is a steady climb with gradients vary from 1.5% to 3%.

From 90.5km to 108km it's dh with the gradient varying from -1% to -5% and there are some short flat sections in between.

This is the end of lap one and you will have to do the hill again for a second lap( the same info as from km 36).