Arrive Tempe

Today I arrived in Tempe, Arizona for this Sunday’s Ironman. I am now at the tail end of a self-imposed work sabbatical. Yesterday I packed everything in my car except my bike. Mark from Velofix has kindly agreed to transport my bike to Tempe and deliver it to me tomorrow. He will go over it, replace the chain, adjust the Etap, etc. The rear mech has been rattling in the 55 X 19 for some reason. I dearly need that gear on Sunday. I suspect the cassette on my kickr may have misaligned it somehow.

The drive to Tempe was quite pleasant. There was no traffic at 4 am. Instead of listening to ACDC, I decided to listen to a Joe Rogan podcast. The current edition was quite good. I have never listened to Joe Rogan before. He always came across as just a pothead. His guest was a psychologist named William Von Hippel. They talked nonstop for 3 hours! The topics were mainly related to biology and evolution. I am now a fan of the podcast, the other episodes need exploring.

I am actually inspired to looking into having my own podcast. People tell me I have a nice radio voice. My children's piano teacher is an opera singer. She keeps encouraging me to go into voice acting or opera. My friend Chuck and I talked about starting a podcast or radio show years ago. I am always on the lookout for an alternative career. My current job exhausts me. My aspirations are to become a professional novelist. I don’t think I could pay the bills this way, so I am waiting until my youngest child leaves the house (circa 2023).

Within 5 minutes at the IM village, I managed to check in and receive my race package. The race staff were very pleasant and helpful. A lot of athletes seemed very nervous. It was horrifying to see a giant table of free cowbells. People were picking them up by the dozens. I know headphones are banned in the race. Maybe earplugs are allowed.

My rental house is in a nondescript area of Scottsdale. It sounds swanky, but the neighborhood is on the ghetto side. My neighbors have cars parked in the front lawn. There are people living in RVs down the street. I have the house to myself at the moment. I didn’t remember how wonderful it was to have no TV blaring. I do not plan on turning it on all weekend. My wife and children love TV. I hate TV except for Da Ali G show. Luckily it seems quiet, that is all I really need. My household is notoriously loud. I have taken to wearing earmuffs in the mornings and evenings.

I managed to squeeze in some grocery shopping before I came to the house. I made the mistake of going shopping when I was starving. I bought stupid things I don’t really need. I have 2 days worth of dinners from home that I can heat up in the microwave.

I have 3 more days until the race, and only one mandatory thing remains: dropping the bike off on Saturday. I will have 2 entire days to just plan out the race strategy. Organization and anticipating needs are crucial in triathlon generally, and Ironman in particular. This planning ahead seems to come naturally to me. My job entails that type of thinking.

To stave off boredom, I might go swimming at Cactus Pool tomorrow. I think I did that last year. It is a nice large pool with good swimmers. The pool I normally swim at (Splash La Mirada) has people wearing flippers and hand paddles. I still have scabs on my ankle and elbow from some guys hand paddle. If my bike is delivered I will go ride Beeline once or twice. The conditions seem perfect with no wind. Last year we had a block headwind on the Beeline ascent. I am still debating whether to put new tubes and tires on the Plasma.

I feel very relaxed and prepared for the race. I am confident that if I take it easy all day I could finish without much stress. There is a little tangle of grey matter that is telling me to go hard on the bike ride. I would dearly love to qualify for Kona. I calculated things out. There is really no chance of my qualifying. I am just not good enough. I will keep going with the plan, steady moderate effort through the day. The main difference from 2017 is I have paid much more attention to nutrition this year. My body is 8 kg lighter. I hope to eat gels and drink Ensure through the race. Ensure tastes great and is loaded with calories.

I have gained a few pounds in the last week. I attribute that to swimming. Something about swimming makes you gain weight. A swimmer becomes extraordinarily hungry after a workout. I believe there is a swimming hormone released from the hypothalamus/pituitary axis. It may be a variant of leptin or ghrelin. It seems to be a natural reaction. Your body must want to gain weight and insulation in response to being submerged in water. If you inspect world-class swimmers, they have much higher body fat than TDF cyclists.