One more (restless) sleep

It's important to get a good sleep two nights before the race, because restlessness the night before is pretty typical. I have a recurring pre-race dream that I slept in and missed the start. Last night it was lights out by 7:30 PM, and wide awake this morning at 3:30 again, for a solid eight hours' rest. Sunday morning we'll definitely sleep in until, oh, six-ish.

Saturday morning will be another 3:30 AM wakeup, followed by a breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt. No Bran Flakes, because on race day, fibre is definetly NOT your friend! However, it's important to be as empty as possible. Coffee is a very effective agent for me in that regard, even the smell of a pot of Kona brewing is enough to send me to the porcelain throne.

There were more athletes out running as early as 4:00 AM again.
The high surf warning is off today, however there were still swells, but smaller ones. It looked like some swimmers were having a tough time of it. The rough water pulled my swim cap off at one point, but otherwise I felt good out there. My biggest concern was avoiding the swimmers coming out while I was on my way back in!

It was quite overcast and the winds were calm, it would have been good racing conditions. The forecast for tomorrow is "some sun" and 84 degrees, with east-northeast 10-20 mph winds. That would amount to a tailwind returning, we should be so lucky!

What amazes me about Kona is the number of really fit older athletes. I've seen guys and gals in their forties and fifties with bodies their kids would be happy to have. No matter how fit everyone looks, however, at the end of the race they will all have really bad hair. Stick a bike helmet on a wet head for five plus hours, then change the helmet for a cap or visor for three-plus, soak again several times and you have an epic rats-nest for your race finish photo. Best to leave the cap on.

Time to do some stretching, and hit the sack. Race day comes early, you can follow along at www.ironmanlive.com. The pro race starts at 10:45 MDT, the age-groupers at 11:00 MDT. (That's 7:00 AM Kona time.) See you at the finish line!