Gear

There's a lot of it.

I just spent the past two hours laying everything out and going over it and over it. Thank god Rob came back from his crazy day of flying to help me get my double-water-bottle cage on the seat post as I was busy packing everything else.

Here's my race day grand plan:

I am not adding or removing clothing - what I swim in will also be what I bike and run in. This will be black, very sexy (ha!) tri shorts, a tri sports bra, and the Team in Training jersey over that.

After the swim, I will jog to the transition area to shove my feet into socks and my bike shoes, and I will clip on the race belt that I have already attached my number (344) to. For the bike, this number will be in the back. My hair will get tied into a low ponytail, my sunglasses will donned, and the last thing I will do is put my helmet on before I touch the bike (under penalty of disqualification!). Then, jog the bike to the "mount line" and get on and ride away!

The bike course is part of the infamous Ironman course, and is notorious for winds. Great. I have two water bottles already full of gatorade in the fridge, two replacement tubes, two CO2 cartridges, a patch kit and tire irons (or whatever they're called), as well as one Cliff bar that I will eat as fast as I can and three bags of shot blocks (two Cran-Razz and one Margarita with Salt flavor). The course will be hot, so I will also take one electrolyte pill. If you've ever seen me workout you know I sweat. A lot. It's not cute. There are also aid stations on the bike route, so if I finish a bottle and need water I will grab one and chuck my empty bottle.

Bike will be dismounted at the "dismount line" and I will jog back into the transition area to re-rack my bike, yank off the bike shoes and shove my running shoes on my feet, spin my number around to the front (as we are required to have it in front for the run segment), remove my sunglasses (which I always forget and thus end up running with sunglasses in my hand), grab my third water bottle and take the bag of shot blocks, and exit for the run.

There will be two aid stations for the run, so if I decide I hate running with the bottle (I doubt it, I ran an entire half-marathon holding a water bottle and shot blocks) I can chuck it and stop at the stations.

Rob has kindly offered to come with me tomorrow morning to help me get set up and ready to go, and then he will probably position himself strategically close to both the event and the bar. At least that's what I would do!

After the race, which finishes on the soft sand (which I am not happy about - ever run on soft sand? After a 1.5K swim/40K bike/10K run? In the heat?), there will be an awards ceremony for the speed demons (we fully expect our coach to be on the podium as an overall placer, he's that fast), then the fun really begins!

There will be an after-party at the pool, with drinks and food, and then I will probably take a long, hard nap before the victory party officially begins at 6PM tomorrow night.

I am very excited and a bit nervous! Woo hoo!