Tracking and attacking...

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that I rented a "real-time-gps-tracking-devise" for Ironman Kona. It's from a company called www.myathletegps.com and I pick it up at their race expo booth when I get to Kona.

The first time I heard of this company was at Ironman Lake Placid, they had an expo booth. Essentially, for $40, they rent you a small GPS devise that attaches to your race belt and tracks you on the bike and run in real-time.

They give you a web link that you share with family and friends so they can go online or use a PDA to view your progress at anytime. I included a link to a video of what the tracking looks like HERE.

I think online real-time tracking is a great idea for long distance races. For Alice, she'll now know exactly where I am on the course and not have to spend countless hours waiting and wondering when I'll be coming around the corner. And for Family and Friends, they can watch my progress from a far as it happens, rather than having to wait for the Ironman.com tracker update.

When I first met the guy who rents them in Lake Placid, he intentionally called them "recreational" devises. He explained, in the beginning people were looking at them for split times, etc and sometimes they would crap out, or the battery dies and people would get mad or friends or family would think there was a problem on the course because there was no movement. I get the impression that if the gps is working well, it will show the exact time and some stats of miles covered, etc. If so, that would be very cool.

Frankly, it's only a matter of time until this becomes standard fare for triathlons. The technology already exists. If they allowed me to run with an iPhone, my family could track me right now. I'm thinking that one day, the timing chip may have something in it that will allow real-time tracking, maybe using RFID technology or something similar. Heck, Walmart already uses RFID now to track all their trucks and products and it's cheap.

I'm almost ready for Kona. I ordered a new box of contact lenses for race day, which was a chore. My optometrist didn't want to sell them to me until I came in for a new eye exam, my last exam was two years ago. I told them, I'm not coming in, my prescription is fine, and if you don't order them for me, I'm going to place the order with another company. Needless to say, they ordered them.

Now I'm just waiting for two more items. The first and most important is my Sponsor Triathlon Toons racing tri-top and the second is my finish line "prop". I'm told the tri-top will be here on time, I'm not sure about the prop. I ordered it late from amazon and I really hope it gets here before we leave. If it doesn't, it wasn't meant to be. If it does, it's going to be a damn funny finishers shot.

For pre-Kona, I've been debating if I should be wearing the Captains hat at the pre and post race festivities. I'm talking the ORIGINAL Captains hat. The 45 year old one that's my grandfathers. Normally, I wear a replica Captains hat only on the run.

In the beginning, I ran with the Original Captains hat but it's too fragile to withstand anymore race sweat and was starting to come apart. But it's still great for wearing, it fit's like a glove, like it was made for my head. Total quality.

My question to my blog readers is this, "Should I be the Captain for the entire Kona experience, or just for the run?"

I FINALLY had a respectable long bike ride this afternoon. The last three have been pathetic, averaging between 26 - 28 kph. Today was my 24th Century ride since Training for Ironman China on December 12th 2009. My 25th Century will be the "big one" in Kona and my last for the year. Thank God.

I wasn't sure if I was going to ride today, then I got a "surge" of positive energy and decided to "bundle up" and "getter done". I had four goals for today's ride:

1. Average over 30 kph

2. Do not stop for any convenience store breaks and ride non-stop.

3. Do not go into the small front chain ring.

4. Do not get out of the saddle on any climbs.

I'm proud to say I accomplished all four goals and I did it under tough conditions. It was cold (14 C / 57 F), a little rain and the winds were 30 kph and gusting up to 44 kph. My nose was running the entire time. I took the "harder routes" with hills, like number one side road and the Appleby line dip. I was also bundled up with three layers up top and two below, which made it a "bulky" ride, just like winter.

All in all, it was the exact "confidence builder" I was looking for before Kona. When I got home, my legs weren't sore, just exhausted. Even though I only ate one banana, a power bar, an ensure and two bottles of Powerbar drink over the entire five and a half hours, I'm happy to report I didn't come close to bonking.

When I got home, I showered and bundled up with three layered heavy sweaters, a toque, compression tights and pants. All in the attempt to acclimatize for Kona. I feel like too much of a "keener", but I'm scared about the heat and don't want to be halfway through the race with regrets of "what ifs" and "I should haves".

Long Ride - 5:26:10 / 170.31 kms / 31.33 kph avg / 139 avg hr