"Slower and Slower!"

I did the IM distance in my wetsuit again this morning and again I was slower than last time. I was 1:17 compared to a previous 1:14 compared to a previous 1:11. But believe it or not I'm not stressed by it at all. I think it's only a matter of timing, no pun intended, and in this case my arms were still a little tired from my weight workout on sunday evening. Most of my anxiety about the swim is now behind me I think. Today was just a long boring swim!

Thats all I did today except for having a great discussion with my buddy Penticton Paul. We talked for close to an hour again and I learned so much about the race. An ironman is handled so much differently than any other race I have ever been in. It is very structured with very tight rules, but as I understand it with incredible support. For example, there are 11 places out on the bike course where they provide replacment water bottles or gatorade as well as bananas and pretzels. Believe it or not they even provide chicken soup during the run portion, and they do things like help you out of your wetsuit and hand you your glasses when you get out of the water. They even park your bike for you when you return from the mountains. As well they have these things called special needs bags, which they hand to you half way through the bike and halfway through the run. They are bags with your number on them that you have packed your self with anything you may think you need, food, aspirin, toilet paper or even a picture of your grandma if you like.

It all sounds like a great deal of fun to me!

I wish to dedicate day 251 to Vanessa the lifeguard, who un-seflconsciously, zips me into my wetsuit on a regular basis.

...on being slow...
“I have seen slower people than I am and more deliberate... and even quieter, and more listless, and lazier people than I am. But they were dead."---Mark Twain

...and this one as a metaphor for life...
"It's a question of spreading the available energy, aerobic and anaerobic, evenly over four minutes. If you run one part too fast, you pay a price. If you run another part more slowly your overall time is slower."---Roger Bannister

love
peter