TICK TOCK!

30, 28, 26, 24 Days To Go....TICK TOCK GOES THE CLOCK!

It would seem that there's no stopping the clock now.  There is just 24 days until IRONMAN Texas and 17 days until I fly out to Houston for the race.  As it inches closer and closer, everyday it becomes more and more real.  Just yesterday the race officials released the Athlete's guidebook for the race and they have even started sending out various emails as well.  In addition they sent out our Race Numbers....I will be BIB #1569 on race day (you well be able to follow my progress at Ironmanlive.com). This of course makes me very excited but a little nervous too.  I think the nervousness is healthy though, at least that's what I tell myself anyways :-)

"ARE YOU READY?"
The answer to this question for some reason always is more complicated than just yes or no.  Yes I'm ready...ready to have my experience, ready to share this experience with my friends and family, ready to see my hard work pay off.... But No, I'm not ready.....not ready because I feel like there is more I could have done to prepare on the bike, the swim, and the run......but all of these are I'm sure normal doubts for first time Ironman Athletes.  So basically, I'm ready as I'm going to be and I'm going to make the most of it and do it hopefully with a Smile on My Face :-)

Mt. Rainier

Long Bike Ride with Friends

As far as my Training goes, over the past few weeks the weather here in Seattle has slowly gotten better and there were several really nice days that allowed for me to get out on my bike for some long bike rides.  My longest ride was 106 miles but I did several rides that were over 80 miles.  So I do feel like I got enough time in the saddle to somewhat know what to expect on my race.  Although there's no telling what that wind will be like in the final 30 miles of the course.  Here's to hoping that the wind is my friend o May 19th.

Masters Championship

In addition to my biking, I participated in the PNA Masters Swim Championships (This regions Masters Championships) at the King County Aquatic Center.  This pool is the nicest pool that I've swam in since I went to swim camp in 1987 at the University of Texas.  The facility will be hosting the US Olympic Diving Trials in June as well.  As far as the meet goes, I did pretty good.  I ended up only swimming 2 of the 5 events that I signed up for.  I got 5th in my age group in the 500 yard freestyle and 9th in the 100 yard freestyle as well.  I was going to swim the 50, 1000 and the 1650 yard freestyle events as well but the weather was so nice that weekend that I decided to scratch those events and go for a bike ride instead.  I figured that I needed more time on my bike than I did in the pool. 

JOE ON THE RUN
Over the past few weeks I've been keeping my weekly running miles between 25-30.  I'm not sure if this is enough or not but I feel like it's a good balance without risking injury this close to my race.  After all, getting hurt this close to the race would be horrible.  I guess you can say that I'm not really in Taper-Mode right now, I'm more in a Maintain-Mode with emphasis on not getting hurt.

Speaking of getting hurt, after a year of saying that I was going to do it, I finally went to my first ever Hot Yoga Class last night to try and get use to moving around in Hot and Humid climates.  With the projected race day temperatures in the upper 80's/low 90's with close to 100% humidity (this will be at 3pm as well when I am on the run), the more comfortable you are in the heat the better.  Training in Washington where the average temperature year round is probably 55 degrees, getting use to the heat is a difficult task.  This 1st experience was about as fun as I had expected.....It was not fun at all....in fact it sucked.  I really did not want to push it to hard so I opted out of the majority of the moves....it just kept going on and on and on for 90min (actually it turned out to be good mental toughness training....it was all I could do to stop myself from bolting from the room for some cool air).  I had to just lay there and hope that I did not faint....NOTE TO SELF....60min of HOT YOGA will be fine next time!  Needless to say. I wish that I would have started a while ago but oh well, at least I have a few more weeks to try and get a little more adjusted to it. 

"Perfect Game"

Besides all of my training, I did manage to go to a Mariners game on Saturday and it turned out to be yet another Historical Baseball Game that I've witnessed in my life.  To go along with the Nolan Ryan No Hitters I witnessed as a kid, on Saturday I saw what I thought was the most boring game ever.....  The Mariners were getting killed by the White Sox 9-0.  It was the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and then all the Mariners Fans started to cheer for the White Sox....some were even booing when the Mariners Player at bat would swing at the pitch.....my buddy Jason and I were just looking around saying what the heck is happening....then I noticed the scoreboard and realized that it was about to be a No Hitter.....oh wait not just a NO HITTER, it was a PERFECT GAME, 3 Batters Up-3 Batters Down for 9 innings (hence the most boring game ever!!!!!!) This has only happened 21 times since 1876.  Even though it was a historical game, it was super boring live.  I'm sure it was way more exciting on TV as the announcers I'm sure hyped it up.  I'll take the excitement at an IRONMAN FINISHLINE betweeen 10pm and 12am anyday!