Giddy Up - Its Go Time. IMC Pre Race Thoughts

I sit here typing away at Smith and Co in Penticton. The last fewdays have been great as I have been able to get acclimitised to the weather and gradually ease into what is Ironman Canada week in Penticton.

Training has all been maintanence in the lead up with no more than an hour per day since Tuesday and I have been focussing on getting as much sleep as possible (Avg about 10 to 11 hours a day) and keeping as "chilled as possible. Only today am I starting to get amp'd up for the race which is a good thing, I will try and chill again this afternoon then focus on the last 36 h of prep and rest prioir to go time.

Part of racing is amking sure you have A, B, C and so forth plans. So as I approach race day I am trying to ensure I have all of these thoughts clear in my head so I am ready for both the good and bad possibilities. Rather than ignore the possibilities of things going bad I like to visualise my plan so if it does happen I just have to execute the plan on race day.

Key Thought for the Race

"Respect the Zone"

My key thought for the race is to respect my zone - anytime I lose on the bike by staying in my effort zone as much as possible will be rewarded with interest on the run. Coming on to the run it is a similar gain - part trying to hold my target pace while monitoring what my effort level is. Essentially i want to red zone the last 5km of the run and if I can do that it means that my day has gone well.

Predictions

Super reluctant to do this as this is the IM distance and there are so many variables so I am not going to through to much out there. Needless to day my main aim for the day is to go fast but controlled. This means exiting the swim around 1:15 and hopefully being of the bike at around the 6:20 to 6:45 mark depending on winds, heat etc. Then it goes to the run whihc is the key variable - hopefully by respecting the bike and my energy output and nailing my nutrition I can have a good run and hold a good pace and cadence. I am looking at the run as a tough progression run where I will gradually build the pace (or hold on) in the second half if everything has gone well.

So I am not going to throw out a finsh time prediction that is specific except will hopefully be somether around 5pm give or take half an hour.

Time to Go Chill

Thats it for now - Thanks to all for the messages of support and are looking forward to enjoying the day on Sunday and having fun while at the same time digging deep and pushing to the limit. Afternoon nap is on the agenda today as well as keeping fuelled and hydrated for the day. Will get all my bags finalised today as well so tommorow is just a quick visiit to Transition to drop off my gear and do a T1 and T2 walkthrough.

good Times all and my next post will likely be on the flipside after the carnage!!!!

Thanks All - Ironman Canada is Nearly Here and Could Not Have Got Here Without You!

Hey All

It is nearly go time for 2009 and Ironman Canada on August 30th in Penticton, BC. I come to the start line healthy and ready to put down the gauntlet and have a good race and that would not be without the support, assistance and help of all of you. Being Ironman race day can bring anything and my number one aim will be to have fun out there followed by the mantra of no regrets. I really want to lay it all down on the line come race day (In a controlled manner of course) and look to execute my plan as best I can.

The main purpose of this note is to say thanks to all those whose have helped along the way thus far in 2009 and at the risk of missing people and leaving people out I wanted to send some specific thanks;

Family

Les - Thanks as always for your support in these crazy schemes and one of my goals for 2009/2010 will be to do more dishes (I hate dishes but I figure everyone must)

Mum and Dad - Thanks as always for the support. Still wish I had been forced to go to swim lessons every day as a kid but the exposure to sports of all different types and the 4km runs to the railway tracks and back on flaxmill road with the hill gave me a taste for going fast and running distance as a kid. Race day will just be 10 of those runs :)

To my BC Family - Thanks for all the support, the digs to crash at in penticton and all the support. Hoping to see everyone before or after race day who is up here.

Sponsors

Forerunners and Newton - Thanks for the support thus far this year. For Forerunners it is an awesome store and everyone is super friendly and genuinely interested in how things are going whenever I am in. looking forward to the Fall Clinics and the pizza and beer at double D's post workout.

If you need shoes, clothes, nutrition etc I can not recommend the crew at forerunners highly enough. Also for those of you running in the fall come out to the Wednesday Night clinic - its fun and you will get to look at me shuffle through my first run post IMC on Sep 9th :) - Visit them at Forerunners.ca or on west 4th in Kits.

From a shoes perspective have been really happy with my Newtons for the past year and love the shoes to train and race in. Looking forward to the new models coming out in Fall 2009 and 2010. My feet are definitely a lot less beat up this year and a lot of that comes down to having shoes that just work.

Jerry - Thanks for all the help with the run program this year - have learned a lot and it has worked well thus far. Wasn't thanking you when running the last 10 minutes of a 3 hour progression run but I figure that's to be expected!!

To the Local Businesses in Kits I Use

A huge thanks to Dr Carla Cupido - I have had a couple small injuries this year and she has rocked with treatment and rehab and I am really luck to have access to you as a my Chiropractor and will definitely be in there post IMC.

Thanks to Jeremy, Doug and the rest of the crew at Speed Theory for keeping the Orbea in good nick and advice on the bike related side.

Those I have Trained with this Year

There is a lot of people I have swim, bike, run with this year (Too many to mention names without missing somebody). I have learned a lot from each and everyone of you and hope to bring those pieces of info and inspiration to race day. The best part about the whole training process is you get to train with, hang out with and meet a whole group of interesting people. Add to this some fun stories including Tin Man, Turkey No Mayo, riding through snow at 5500 feet in San Diego or rain on 0 Avenue its been another fun journey and I look forward to sharing some of the winter suffering as well.

To my Non Tri Friends

I can assure you I am not a reverse Vampire who is scared of the night!!! Thanks for putting up with me missing my birthday party - photos were great though (I was truly sick!!!) me drinking water at the bar and various other absences. Looking forward to your support come race day and catching up Sunday night and on Monday - don;t indulge in too much wine on Saturday otherwise Sunday could be a long day. As a reward i think I will sign you all up for Sun Run in 2010 to see who is the fastest over 10k

To the Online World

To those who read my blog, follow me on twitter etc etc. Thanks for all the support and the inspiration I get form reading about your endeavours.Keep on blogging and tweeting and say hi if you see me around town in the next few days.

Follow me on Race Day

If you are interested my number is #261 and updates with splits will be on Ironman.com - follow the link to Canada. My twitter account will also be getting updated at http://twitter.com/jeremyhopwood and my post race report will be on my blog at http://opensourcetriathlon.blogspot.com/

That's it For Now

For those racing on Sunday - Rock It, Have Fun, Keep Smiling and remember that its going to be an awesome feeling running down lakeside. For all those out volunteering and cheering thanks and have a fun day.

Jeremy

Taper = Sleep

So easy to fill up taper with all the non training things on your to do list. While I am still trying to knock of a few my sleep is now officially becoming sacred and instead of posting a highly insightful blog post about how I feel, what bacon tastes like or the fact pilates was designed for the Canadian Military I am going to head to bed and catch 10 hours worth of zzzz's

I leave you however with a slideshow of my last long run of the the Ironman build which included a 1 hour 33 minute warm-up at 4:59 min per km pace followed by a 1 hour 27 minute progression run which averaged at 4:30 min km. This made for a total distance of 38km in 3 hours of which I have recovered really well whihc is a good sign for IMC.

For those of you not lucky enough to have been to vancouver its a sweet place to live and the seawall run is something special so I shared the day with many others out exercising and did my interval work around Stanley park.

Enjoy the photos (FYI I do not slow down to take photos so what you get is what you get)

Respect Not Fear

So It is now 12 days or so from the A Race of my year. So as I now enter Taper mode one thoughts go to race day and thinking what one is capable of. I tend to like to have a focus statement/mantra in my head for the key events and for Ironman Canada at the moment it is;

"Respect Not Fear"

This will likely change before race day but at the moment it sums up what I am thinking.

"Respect"

I need to respect the distance and be clear in the understanding that the day is going to hurt and it is not going to go exactly to plan. Things that I don't want to could happen but I just need to respect that possibility and have a plan for these eventualities (I.e Flat on the bike, nutrition issues etc etc)

"Not Fear"

While having respect for the race and the distance I will "Not Fear" it. What this means is that I will be mentally ready for things to go right as well as wrong. Also it means to "attack" the race and execute my plan and push when I need to push while "Not Fearing" the potential things that could happen

More posts to come as I near taper including a couple looking back at some of the fun times I have had training as part of this build.

Taper Activities - Help Needed - You Tube Videos Wanted

Not into taper quite yet, but figured should get some material together. One of the great activites on a friday Night in the house is watching you tube videos. In fact I am going to have a youtube party post IMC but that is another story.

Anyway, leave the youtube link to any inspirational, funny, triathlon, swimming, cycling, running in the comments section. To start this of I have included a few videos that may be of interest.

Armstrong Short Cut

Armstrong showing awesome downhill skills



Performance

This is hitting thew forum's as we speak and Lance's tweet on this has caused a you tube explosion.



Julie Moss

One of the big things that made Kona famous



The Crawl

Unbeleivable that this fight wasn't even for the win.




I Can

Another Ironman vid from Kona



Great Aussie Sporting Moments

Remember were I was for most of these. especially jumping around my living room for Bradbury in the speed skating and a nightclub in Mount Gambier when we beat the South Africans in the cricket. Should be good inspirational material.




Hy-Vee Triathlon Finish

Whitfield wins 200k this year.



JD Does a Triathlon - Scrubs



Graeme Obree Documentary

A documentary on the flying scotsman. Long watch but worth it

















Ghosting - Hamish and Andy

A new sport to take up



Boom Goes the Dynamite