This is it..after a little over 6 months, thousands of yards of swimming, biking hundreds of miles and running on all terrain and more miles than I can count-we are in the plane to Phoenix, where we catch our connection to Kona. We arrive at 2:00-ish Kona time, gaining 4 hours along the way. It should be an interesting adjustment jet lag wise.
Last week:
I have been waking up every morning at 3:30 AM, averaging 5 hours of sleep a night this week. As a result, I have been utterly stressed out, tired and cranky. It took me days to pack, this includes packing and repacking several times in order to have the weight just right and the perfect clothing choices. This makes me irrationally temporarily insane..no, it really it does. I told H this AM if I could pay someone to pack for me and organize my s#%*t before a trip, I would. On more than one occasion I thought I am seriously getting to old for this! The moment we got on the plane, I felt my body finally after a week, relax...I am thoroughly exhausted, I could sleep for days before the race. I won't because there will be so much to do, to see in Ironman Paradise. So many things to buy! The Ironman Store will be so happy to see me coming, I am planning on buying all the IM Kona momentos I can. My suitcase weighed 51.4 lbs, the agent said to make sure to take something out before coming home, and that she would let me go this time..Ha! Of course she didn't know I was headed to race souvenir heaven so getting back underweight will be a challenge.
Now:
We arrived in Kona Thursday night without any glitches..I am always happy to see my suitcase rolling on the luggage carousel. Whew! We got to our new home away from home the "Sugar Shack", a 4 Suite HUGE house complete with kitchens in each space and hanging out places galore. We are staying in part of the house until the whole fam arrives on Thursday/Friday-all 12 of them and we take over the whole house! My sister in law and her hubby arrive Monday, although they are not staying here. I have my own little cheering section and Crew! I feel so lucky and amazingly loved and supported...it overwhelms me..
We even a little pool where we can take a dip anytime when the day gets hot, and yes indeed it does get a little toastie and humid during parts of the day! We are right across the street from the ocean and have full access to the daily beautiful sunsets of Hawaii. So awesome..
I went for a swim yesterday off the Kona Pier, where the race start is. The ocean is warm, no wetsuits allowed but I have my skin suit, which is allowable in warm water during the race. Sometimes the lack of wearing a wetsuit during the 2.4 mile swim freaks folks out because of the lack of buoyancy but I love it, especially in the ocean where Mother Nature offers her own buoyant security with the salt water. I swam about 20 minutes. The water was so clear I could see fishies at the bottom of the ocean. Some have seen dolphins while doing training swims, I could handle that! I could have swam forever but saw my Aussie Coach at the beginning of the swim and he said just swim a bit to get my body use to the water. I woke up at 3:00 AM yesterday, the time change has not caught up with me yet obviously! I wake up at all kinds of odd times anyway at home so was thinking it could be a challenge for a few days here. I managed to sleep til 5:00 AM this morning (Saturday) Yee-haw!
My Iron brained, jet lagged head managed to mess up the day I was to meet my Aussie T.E.A.M. for dinner last night. I thought it was tonight so I started getting messages last night at 7:30 like "where are you?" I realized totally mortified, that I had caused our team to wait for us because of my error. We were already practically falling over asleep so I apologized profusely and went to bed thinking man am I a dope or what? geez..TEAM coaches told me no worries, not to stress.
After my amazing sleep in, I checked my email. Lo and behold I read that my bike was held up by "conditions out of our control" and I would not get my bike here until Monday or Tuesday instead of today. I used Tri Bike Transport to ship my bike, thinking it would be easier. With the awful problems I had last time I flew with my bike to Australia last Spring my thinking was that it would be less risky. Needless to say, I was PISSED! I called the TBT rep immediately, she knows me by name as I had been in touch with her repeatedly before I shipped my bike 3 weeks ago now (talking about my Tri Bike, I have been training at home since then on my road bike). She understood my frustration and called the guy in charge here. Long story short, I get a loaner bike today at 1:00 to use until my bike gets here..sometime in the next few days...Acccchhhhh! I mean, come on people, this is the biggest race of any athlete's life?? This delay is affecting many athletes so they will have a bunch of pissed off people on their hands today I would bet!
Oh well, expect the unexpected during an Ironman. I guess that includes before the race too! I saw my friend from Santa Fe-Ted on my run this AM. I almost started crying like a baby as I told him what had happened. A little sensitive aren't I?! Between standing up my friends last night and finding out my Cervelo is stuck somewhere in Honolulu I feel fragile and insecure...all part of the stress of the deal I suppose. I messaged my Coach and told him what happened. He of course is calm, reassures me all the training is done, and not to stress..Gotta love my Coach who has calmed me down many times during this journey!
I went for a run this AM around 6:30. This helped...all the extra oxygen makes me feel like a rock star. The short run yesterday afternoon and hour run this morning went really well. I didn't feel hot so much but was drenched in sweat both times afterwards. I am drinking tons of water and electrolytes to counteract the sweating..
My amazing hubby made me a nice breakfast when I got back and listened to me whine..OK, time to move on and go with the flow, roll with the punches. Hopefully all the drama is behind me and won't have to happen during the race next Saturday .
That's a week from today!! Holy cow, I am really gonna do this-Bring it!
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