Day One in Tempe

We should totally be in bed. But instead, we're cleaning our bikes and packing our transition and special needs bags. Our hotel suite has exploded; we've got bike degreaser in a coffee mug, Gu packets all over the kitchen counter and water bottles absolutely everywhere.

Race day is sooooo close now.

We drove down to the race site this morning for a training swim and Ironman check-in. Let me just tell you, Tempe Town "Lake" looks like one wide river. The water didn't taste that bad, but it was darn cold. And somehow I came out of the water with dirt on my face and in my nose. Slimy dirt. But I think slime reduces drag, so this could bode well for Sunday's 2.4-miler.

After swimming, we waited in line for a while to check in. Ironman makes you sign a two-page waiver that says, in essence, "If you die during this event, please don't sue us." I signed it. And then I picked up my race numbers and goody bag, which was full of other bags: morning clothes bag, swim-to-run bag, bike-to-run bag, bike special needs bag and run special needs bag. Let's hope I can keep all these bags straight...

Tonight we ate dinner with the 2,400 other competitors racing on Sunday. We hail from all 50 states and 32 countries. The oldest triathlete is 77 ("My peers are either dead or in assisted living homes" - God bless him) and the youngest is 18 (from Anchorage, AK).

But you know what the best part about tonight was? I found Mike Reilly, the Voice of Ironman [see earlier posts about finding Mike...clearly, I was unsuccessful]. The one and only Mike Reilly was tonight's emcee!

Actually, I have to take that back. Mike was the second best part of tonight's dinner. The best part was Rudy Garcia-Tolson, the young double amputee and an amazing athlete. Rudy will be racing IMAZ with the rest of us able-bodied athletes. "I'll motivate you out there and you give me motivation back." Rudy, you got it. I can't wait to see you out there. Just put those miles away and get to that finish line. You will do this.

One Week to Go

Oh. My. Goodness! Ironman Arizona is one week away. How in the world did this happen?!

We're heading out on a two hour brick workout soon. Today marks the last day of Taper. Starting tomorrow, we head into Race week and reduce the volume of our workouts even more.

This time next week, we'll be swimming in Tempe Town Lake. Tim's swim plan? To swim around the buoys and finish in a respectable time. My swim plan? Avoid swallowing the detritus in the water.

Tim and I are now talking non-stop about Ironman. A conversation about what to have for dinner invariably turns into a race day nutrition talk. A conversation about getting the car's oil changed morphs into a discussion on race day transitions. We are wholly consumed.

Oh. My. Goodness...

Finding Mike Reilly, Part Deux

Back in October, I wrote about finding Mike Reilly, Ironman's race day announcer. My plan was to find Mike and convince him to play the song that symbolizes the Ironman finish line for me on November 22.

Um, about that plan...

I haven't found Mike. In fact, I haven't really tried to find Mike. I did look for him on Facebook, but to no avail. I did Google him a bit, but all that popped up were some archived interviews. And then I moved on to other important things - like homework and sleeping and ironing (oh wait, Tim did the ironing).

The good news is that I would make a very bad stalker. The bad news is that my quest to find Mike might just have to wait until Team Middleton lands in Tempe, AZ. And that's just a few short days away...

Stay tuned.

Winding Down

Unbelievable: It's nearly time to wind down Ironman training. Our taper starts Monday. I mean, where did the time go? How in the world did we get to this point in our Ironman adventure?

Tim ran his last long run Tuesday. I ran my last long run yesterday. Tim biked his last early-morning ride this morning. And I've got one more meeting with the bike trainer tomorrow morning.

Saturday marks our very last intense brick workout. We'll ride about 70 miles and run for 90 minutes.

Dang. I hope all these months of crazy training pay off on November 22.

I should say that our swimming won't really taper off. In fact, our swimming yardage will increase up until one week before the race.

For instance, I swam 3,500 yards at the UCI pool tonight. Um, yeah, that's a long time to be underwater. I try to keep my mind occupied for the hour I'm in the pool. Tonight, I thought about work, what I wanted for dinner, why the guy in the lane next to me was wearing what he was wearing, what I wore for Halloween 1986 - you get the idea. I just try to tune out while I'm swimming back and forth and back and forth.

So, starting Monday, we'll be swimming more and biking and running less. And counting down the days till we dive into Tempe Town Lake and think about nothing more than the long day ahead of us - and the pH level of the water. :)