A little less chilly a little more "LET'S GET IT ON!"

So here is an update from me, me being Chad...I am starting to get seriously nervous...but in a good way...I have my plan layed out and have been visualizing a lot the past week. I have been imagning the successes and even the hard parts that I have to overcome with a postive attitude. How will I overcome the pain on the run when it gets rough, well I imagine breaking through the "wall" persay and remember that at times it will get tough, but the hard times will pass. I just have to remember to think positive and remember to eat and drink.

So on to the past couple of days. Thursday was a bit of a "shock" to say the least. The water in Tempe Town lake was frigid, at least to me, and after swimming awhile I started to tense up and lose concentration on what I was doing. The way back was terrible as I wasn't wearing even a swim cap and was freezing my butt off! We got out of the water and I was trembling something fierce. I was a little dispondent about what to do...but more on that later. We hung out at the expo afterwards to wait for Race day Wheels to open up and for me to get my race wheels after picking up our bikes from Tri Bike Transport. After that it was pretty much relaxing at our hotel room for the rest of the day.

We drove the bike course during the late afternoon and there wasn't really much to see. We could tell that it was mostly a false flat on the way out almost the whole way so we are prepared for the out portion to be harder than the way back. We then went to "The District" which is a huge shopping mall on the east side of town across the river. We go right by it on the bike and I am sure the shoppers/drivers wont' be too happy with that entrance being closed! The mall is basically on 100 acres and has every shop and restaurant imaginable...they even have a Road Runner sports where we bought Kirsten a new Heart Rate Monitor since hers crapped out on the swim yesterday...totally full of water by the end!

We went to Sports Chalet and I bought this awful looking swim cap that is meant to keep your head warm...I tested it out this morning and it worked perfectly! It may look terrible...but hey at this point with a sleeveless wetsuit...it was exactly what I needed! Kirsten thinks it's cute...but it truly is all about utility at this point!

So this mornings swim was a ton better than yesterdays. Not sure if it was because the air temp was a bit warmer or because of the cap but either way it gave me more confidence going into the swim tomorrow. My stroke was smooth and stretched out today and I felt efficient. I am sure once the cannon goes off, my mind will switch off worrying about it and I will be concentrating on what I am doing at the moment, with my 1000 closest friends of course!

We then got on the bike to do a quick 40 minute ride and to test out my race wheels. The way out on the bike course is definitely challenging if you don't have the right mindset. It is slightly up hill and has a head wind. We were going between 17-20mph depending on the road direction and wind direction. Some of the roads are in horrible condition, others are not so bad. We turned around about 5 miles out or so and the miles just clicked by pretty fast. As soon as we turned around the race wheels showed their mettle. Kirsten was about 100 yards infront of me after turning around a bit sharper than me and with little effort I caught her pretty rapidly...as I passed her she yelled out "OH YEAH!" since she was feeling the benefit of the tail wind and slight downhill at that point. I was keeping a steady effort with my power meter and was easily cruising along at 27-29mph. I wasn't wearing my Heart Rate Monitior but the effort seemed pretty easy.

After that it was off for a quick run after dropping off the bike to get the front wheel trued and have them replace the back wheel since there was a pretty good slice in it that the tube could get pinched in, better to replace it than have a problem on race day! The guys at Race Day wheels are awesome and were extremely nice and accomodating about it all, Kudos to them!

We set off on the run with my new Garmin 405, don't try anything new on race day? Well, pace is my most important factor on the run at IMAZ since I trained with pace the entire year up until now. I have a goal pace and time and intend to use everything in my power to keep to that pace and since my foot pod and polar are pretty good but kind of cumbersome and I would have to change out my HRM strap for the run anyway, I figured having GPS to track my pace would be a ton better. The watch worked perfectly for our little 20 min run and gave me an assurance that it would perform for me and treat me well on race day. It is going in my bike to run bag and will hopefully help me keep to my goals!

The run felt extremely easy even in the heat of the day. I didn't know what our current pace was at times since I used the "average pace" function of the watch but the run averaged 7:55 minute miles and my Heart Rate was extremely low the entire time and I was able to talk to Kirsten the entire time. The way out was hot and our mouths were dry but I felt well hydrated and when we turned around the wind was in our face but our pace didn't falter and my Heart Rate stayed low. It was a huge confidence builder going into race day and I can't wait to get onto the run tomorrow!

Things are winding down for the race tomorrow. We met my parents for lunch and then headed back to the hotel after running a couple errands to get some final things for the race and we are now relaxing in the hotel room and hydrating.

We are both feeling good, anxious, and ready for the day ahead of us...the next time we post here will be probably monday and hopefully we will have accomplished all of our goals and perhaps even exceeded them...in fact, I am pretty confident that both of us will do better that we can even concieve of...

WISH US LUCK!!!!