By the time the automatic scheduler posts this I should hopefully be asleep. Everything I need for tomorrow should be laid out, in order, for the morning. This is not just me being OCD, it is to try and minimise the ridiculous early start in the morning.
I have to be up at 5am on Saturday morning. This is partly bad planning on my part, and partly inconsiderate planning by the race organisers. I left it too late when I was booking a hotel so I am about 40 minutes away from the start and I have to get up early enough to drive that. But the organisers also moved the start forward by an hour to 7:30. This means transition set-up is between 6-7am.
Not really understanding the point of the early start as they have time cut-offs that mean everyone finishes or gets swept up by early afternoon anyway. Doesn't seem to be very athlete friendly for us all to have to drag ourselves out of bed in the middle of the night and to get in the water when it is an hour colder. And especially when they don't allow you to prep transitions the night before. And with split transitions and strange parking arrangements it is almost like they are trying purposefully to make it difficult for athletes who don't have a support crew.
The weather forecast is not inspiring either. The BBC weather says it has been raining in Aberfeldy all week. It is probably raining now. The BBC and Yahoo both agree that it will be raining heavily tomorrow. The BBC even has thunder and lightning in the middle of the afternoon.
There are 6 Threepeakers entered. The others have all finished a full ironman this year already and I expect their deeper endurance and better cycling skills will give them an advantage. I could be second, or more likely third, out of the swim, but I don't think it is a long enough swim distance for me to build a defendable gap and the bike course suits all of them more than me. I expect to finish 6th of the 6.
Overall there are 320 entered. The guys at work were asking how I would get on and I said I would not get in the top half but maybe in the top-200 if I had a really good day. I can find a handful of recognisable names on the list that are definitely beatable if I have an ok day so I don't think I will be last, or even outside the 300.
Karen and Emma have prodded and pushed and cajoled me to train properly and to be here. If I didn't owe them for all the work they put in I would probably have quit a dozen times by now. If at any point tomorrow I feel like I have had enough and want to quit the words "toughen up princess" will be ringing in my ears.
I am ready, or as ready as I am going to be. I only want to get round. I would like to do a respectable time. I would like to enjoy it. But this course really doesn't suit me. So any finish will do. And then onwards to a fast time at Huntly standard.
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