I think I've found the most calming thing on TV to watch that puts you in a happy place guaranteed. Old Classic Movies. They have the Classic movie channel here and they play all these old movies from the 30's, 40's, and 50's, some in black and white, some in colour. The story lines and writing are from a much more gentler and wholesome time, even the gangsters are polite. I love the Technicolor as well, deep and rich. The weird part is knowing your watching a movie and pretty much all the actors are now dead.
The hotel we're staying at has a complimentary breakfast and as Alyssa slept I went down for a coffee and bagel and met a couple Mark (Donahey) and Karen. Marks from Clearwater, is in my age group and his goal is to finish under 10:59.......p.m. that is, anything under 16 hours for him would be fine. He's been here since Monday training. His wife was very nice, she seemed to have severe arthritis or cerebral palsy and walked like it. Could have been an auto accident, looked like she had veneers or a good set of dentures. They invited me to join them for breakfast and we had a nice chat. I love the Ironman spirit and camaraderie, it's the best and reminds me how great it is to be part of this sport. The spirit hasn't changed since my first race in 1986.
After breakfast I woke Alyssa up and she got ready as I put together my bike. I did it with military precision. I hit the timer on my watch and within 12 minutes exactly my bike was assembled and ready to roll. I took it for a test drive in the parking lot, made some minor wheel adjustments and I was done. I then decided to shave my legs and body. The problem was I had a crappy couple of razors. The difference between a good razor and a crappy razor is the number of cuts they leave on your body. My body is cut up like crazy, especially on the knees and elbows. There was blood and hair everywhere. The water wouldn't even drain out of the shower, I had to remove my mini hair piece from the plug before it would fully drain. Then I took the towel and scooped up more of the hair. Much better to do it at a hotel versus home.
It turned out I didn't realize my arms were bleeding and got it all over the bed sheets. That and the hair in the tub was the number one reason I hid my toothbrush and told Alyssa to do the same. I know if I was having to clean up after me I'd be looking for my tooth brush and would dip it in the toilet and let me savour that flavour. This may be the only time I tip a chamber maid.
A side effect of using a bad razor is I feel like I have sunburn. The razor edge was scraping off skin at the cellular level I guess, I'm not a scientist. I just know it feels like I have sun burn. Then, when I put on the sunscreen spray it was like spraying iodine on my body, I was in pain from the burning coming from my open wounds.
On the way to register I dropped my bike off at a bike shop to have them put on a new tire for the front wheel and continued on to the registration and expo. My goal was to get in and out of there as fast as possible. It's interesting to see the new people, I've been there, full of anxiety, anticipation, with a kind of pasty white look in their face of worry. I love it, Ironman Virgins. For me I wasn't there to savour the flavour, I did that last year in Kona. I just wanted to get in a out and go hiking to Zion Park with Alyssa.
I will say the expo and the clothing they had was the worst I've ever seen, except for China. There was not much new, I only got one shirt and they were selling some of last years stuff and some generic Ironman clothing. The energy of the expo was also much less than last year. I was wondering if because it didn't sell out either of the first two years if Ironman is not fully committed to this race. It's a bummer, I was wearing one of my last year St. George shirts and my breakfast buddy was wondering where I got that one, it was nice. After seeing the expo I now see why he asked.
After registration we ate, I had a nice big steak salad and bread. I'm eating lots right now, I can't remember the last time I ate so much carbs. After my last week bike scare of running out of fuel on the bike I want to make sure my body is FULL before the race. Today is more important for Carbo loading than tomorrow, the day before the race. At the expo I also picked up some power bars, those are my go to favourites, they have never let me down.
We stopped by the bike shop on the way back, the bike wasn't yet ready. Instead I dropped another $100 on Hammer Nutrition products. They have one called Tissue Rejeuvenator that is banned in Canada, which means it must be good. It's for helping repair the body during an injury. We also stopped at Rite Aid, the same one I stopped at last year, and picked up the necessities for post race....Coors Light.
Today was the first day in my life I learnt that hiking is MORE than just walking with a long stick. This hike was 2.5 miles of 1500 ft of climbing and 2.5 miles down the hill of 2.5 miles of descending. We took pictures the entire way, unbelievable shots. Unfortunately, I forgot my downloading cable from my SLR camera and will have to post them when I get back. Trust me, the scenery is amazing.
For most of the climbing I was huffing and puffing, Alyssa wasn't too bad. I think part of it was because we started at 2600 ft about sea level, the oxygen was less. I was just thinking that if I raced today I'd be in major labour, I wasn't feeling it. I was glad we went in the late afternoon, the sun was really hot and then we got to climb mostly in the shade, however I was stills sweating. For the first 2/3 of the climb it's just walking up hill, the last 1/3 is a little scary, especially with a big bulky SLR camera around your neck. I had one slight scare early where it could have been fatal and that snapped me into the zone that this is not a game and it was focus on for the rest of the climb up which involved grabbing on to chains and the path so small that two people can't pass by each other at the same time.
Just when we thought we got to the top, there was much more top left. If Reid or Alice were with us, they would have bailed for sure. Heck, they couldn't even DRIVE to the top of the 15,000 ft observation tower in Kona without panicking when the car started to smell and we were only 350 ft elevation away. Alyssa and I joked about that as we kept climbing. We finally made it, it was damn high and when looking down it put it all into perspective with respect to how much walking we did. It took us about 1:40 to walk-climb 2.5 miles.
We savoured the flavour up top for a while, had some water and each of us took a pee. When I took mine I was peeing sunshine and I knew if wasn't vitamin overload, I was dehydrated. Not what you want 36 hours before an Ironman. We started our decent and I think it was harder than the climb, technically I didn't mind it, Alyssa was slower than going up, I was faster. I think it has to do with the length of my legs. The tough part was the constant pounding on the legs on the way down, there is no break. Near the halfway point I started to feel my right calf giving me problems and got scared thinking that my old calf injury returned. I did get it the first time after running down a hill. Could it now be back? Did I screw myself doing this hike? In the end I didn't care, I came to have fun with Alyssa and that's what I was doing, if I have to walk the IM, so be it.
It took us 1:20 to get down the hill. I was tired after that. When the shuttle bus picked us up and I sat down I felt like I had just done a day of yard work. It was that same feeling. It felt like you did something and your body was tired all over. It was either a great IM prep move or not so good, only time will tell. It was definitely a great father-daugter time. We had a lot of fun. On the way down we met up with another guy who hikes all the time and he said this was his favorite hike and I asked him to take a picture of Alyssa and I together, it's my new favorite picture.
We got back to the car with an hour of daylight left and drove back to St. George. We stopped back at the hotel and got some long pants and warmer clothing on then ended up at the Olive Garden for Dinner. I had my go too favorites, Angel hair pasta in olive oil with tomatoes and I had them bring me 4 big slices of Egg Plant parmigiana. The egg-plant is a guaranteed way for me to have a major "download", which in less than 90 minutes later I did.
We got home and I just wanted to get to bed, I need to cram in some rest and recovery. I watched the Classic Movie Channel and fell asleep as Alyssa was on the commuter. I vaguely remember her telling me about one of the area's we walked through that has cold air blowing up through it, she was telling me the name for it. I ate my pistachio nuts for salt, watched TV and then fell asleep. Tomorrow needs to be a very light day, I'm walking on the edge right now.
I will say one thing, I don't expect miracles on Saturday. The weather is much hotter than I'm prepared for. My plan is just to pace myself to finish. If it does hit the mid-90's on Saturday it will be a killer, there is NO shade anywhere on the course in St. George.
On the family front, we spoke with Alice and Reid tonight. Alice got her mothers day basket of everything chocolate to eat, screw flowers they don't taste as good. I know the chocolate won't go to waste. I knew something was up when I heard Reid in the background wanting to talk to Dad. He never wants to talk to me, must be business related. It was. He told me he was waiting for a Chinese guy to show up at 10:30 pm to pick up the punching bag, he was asking $170, would have settled for $140 and the guy asked if he could get $10 off and get it for $160. Reid said, "rather than just saying yes, I down played it and said I guess that would be okay like I did want to sell it cheaper and think the guy could have done better". Who's teaching this kid. I then asked him to show my slot machine if someone comes to look at it, and he said, "what' in it for me, do I get half?" I said no and then offered him $10, we settled at $20.
Hiking - 3 hours plus (Angels Landing)
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