Race Strategy

Wow. When I went online yesterday I thought the counter was somewhere around 5490. 60 hits in 24 hours?

Today I got up early, but after breakfast slept through most of the morning. I feel like my body really needed it. I am starting to feel that sense of wanting to do things out of energy cravings, rather than because I should.

Today I had a light salad for lunch, though have been snacking on rolls and stuff when I get hungry. Am trying to ban coke till Race Day, let's see how that goes.

I went to George's Pool and Newton Park pool and took some photos and swam a bit too. Newton Park brought back a few memories, but I guess when the lane lines aren't in, it takes on a different look and feel.

I also went to the airport in the Humewood shuttle to fetch my bike. I am going to take a taxi to Action Cycles in Walmer tomorrow to swap the bullhorns for the aerobars, and get the cables and gears sorted out. I will probably cycle again tomorrow after that, 60km or so, and do a 1 lap (1.9km) swim in the sea. I'll run 10km on Thursday and then just relax towards the weekend.

My race strategy still feels and sounds weird to me:
Comofortable swim: probably around 1:05.
Going to jog easily into the transition, drink something, calmly get on the bike.
I'm going to try to average 30km/h on the bike, but if I start feeling tired, am going to back off. Bike may be around 6 hours, but if I feel kak I'll take as long as 7, stopping for water and stuff, especially if the wind picks up. There is a gradual 14km hill climb, which I have to do 3 times.

The Run. I have no ideas what my legs will feel like after the 180km bike. I'm going to just jog easily when I feel strong, hopefully for the first 20km and then run in bits and pieces. My initial goal was under 10 hours, now I think I'd like to go under 12 if I'm even in that area. If not, then between 12 and 13 hours. If things unravel like crazy I will forget all concepts of space and time and just concentrate on energy and effort, forward moving, feet in front of each other, and try to spread myself over the full distance. The highest priority is simply to FINISH. Time is secondary.

Over the next few days I want to get my head into the right space because I will need to concentrate and be focussed if I'm going to successfully drive my body for 12 hours or more. So I want to have a few private chats and pep talks with myself between now and Race Day. This is to get myself into a Positive Headspace.

Finally I want to make sure I stay away from sugars, and not have my weight fluctuate either up or down over the next few days.
My mantra for Race Day: Keeping going, smooth and slow...keep going, smooth and slow...