The plan...

Less than two weeks!  Oh my...that is close...amazingly, I am not yet nervous!  Very excited, though...very, very excited.  This will be the culmination of 9 months of planning and training.  At this point, the training is pretty much done.  I am in taper mode, so most of my workouts are much shorter than usual, with some high intensity periods thrown in.  But the planning continues!

I have been planning since I signed up...luckily for me, there are so many resources available that I have been able to find answers to MOST of my questions...and now I'm going to share them with you.  Aren't you excited now, too?  (Really this will simply be an exercise in planning, mostly for me...however, if you have any suggestions, feel free to share!!)

• Mom and I are flying into Louisville on Friday, while Brian drives (he'll leave the night before and stop for the night at a hotel).  He'll have my bike so that I don't have to ship it and reassemble.  Isn't he the greatest husband ever?  Aunt Karen and Uncle Jeff will already be there when we arrive around midday.  After checking into the hotel we'll head over to athlete check-in and get all my goodies.  I'll spend a little time at the expo, but I want to make sure I don't walk around too much, so I won't be there for long.  Somehow I have to fit in a 40 minute run that afternoon.  Brian should get there mid-afternoon, and we'll head to the athlete dinner that evening.  After that is the athlete meeting. I actually look forward to the athlete meeting, because, well, I'm a bit of a nerd and I soak up that informational session stuff!
• Saturday will be a busy day in which I'll have to be really careful to not overdo it.  I'll be doing a practice swim in the Ohio River in the morning, going for a short run (probably before the swim), and a short bike ride to make sure the bike is in good working order.  There's the traditional Underpants Run late morning, but I think I'm going to skip that. As much as I want to experience EVERYTHING, I don't want to add any additional stress to an already stressful situation.  Mandatory bike check-in starts at noon, and after that we're going to drive the bike course--or 81 miles of it, anyway.  It's a shame that I couldn't get up to one of the group rides that were held in the past couple of months on the course, but I at least want to see the course to make myself feel more comfortable (or freak myself out completely!).  Then I need to find a place with some mild food--chicken and rice, probably, for an early dinner.  And then it will be an early night relaxing at the hotel.  Okay, who am I kidding...I won't be relaxed at all!  But I'll pretend.
• At some point over these two days I'll be preparing my bags for the race, which I'll detail below.  But this preparation will be extensive and amusing--just ask Brian.  It's bad enough when I do a local sprint triathlon...multiply that by 1,000 and we might get to the OCD-ness that will be my Ironman gear preparation.
• Sunday--race morning!  I'll get up at 3:45 and have my oatmeal with honey and banana...and then head to transition at 4:30.  Transition opens at 4:45, but all I'll need to do there is pump my bike tires and set up my water bottles.  Body marking starts at 5:00, then I begin the 1 mile trek to the swim start.  This is a unique swim start--it's time trial style, so basically everyone gets in line and jumps off the dock one at a time when the gun goes off at 7am.  They say it takes about 45 minutes to get everyone in the water.  This will be the most nervous part of my morning, I think...just waiting...and waiting...

• Once the race starts, it's game on!  My plan for the swim is to start fairly hard and then settle into my rhythm.  I'll try to keep my pace fairly high, and if I find myself slowing down, I'll try to pick it up again, repeat, ad infinitum (or for 2.4 miles, which will I'm sure seem endless). A stellar swim will be 1hr 15 minutes...I did it in 1hr 24 minutes in the pool...so anything in between those two times will make me happy.

• After coming out of the swim, I'll run to the area where a volunteer will get my T1 bag and I'll head into the tent.  I plan to get through transition fairly quickly--lube on the feet, bike shoes on...nutrition in the pockets, race belt with GPS tracker on...headband and aero helmet on, and off I go!  (I'll probably have the volunteers put sunscreen on me as I exit transition.)  Then I get my bike and head out on the course.  
• I have read a LOT of information about this bike course, because it's the part of the race that scares me the most.  I have a tendency to go too hard on the bike because I get freaked out about my speed when I think it's not fast enough.  So I plan to look at heart rate only for the first 80 miles or so, THEN I'll switch to looking at speed.  We'll see how this works!  I feel as though I have my nutrition down really well, so I'll be eating every 30 minutes on the bike, and drinking as often as I think of it.  I'll take a salt stick electrolyte pill every hour.  My only unknown at this point is that I bought some cooling sleeves per the suggestion of others who have done this race--however, I completely forgot to try them out on last weekend's ride, so I'm not sure at this point if I'll use them or not.

• I'm sure after 112 miles on a hilly bike course I will be ELATED to get off the bike!  A volunteer will grab my bike and another will give me my T2 bag, and again into the tent...bike gear off, running shoes and socks on, fresh nutrition in the pockets, hat on...and off I go again!  To run a marathon.  Yay!
• I am actually more confident in my run than the bike at this point.  My biggest problem will be taking it slow at the beginning so I don't burn out halfway through.  And here is where the biggest unknown will come into play, because I have no idea how my body will handle running that far after already swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112...so I'll just keep going and see what happens!  My goal is to NOT walk (except through the aid stations when needed).  Oh, speaking of aid stations on the run.  I will have some GU Chomps and gels with me, and will attempt to keep ingesting calories from those and Perform drink and water served on course for as long as I can.  At some point I know my stomach will say ENOUGH!  And then it will be whatever I can keep down.  If I've managed nutrition properly on the bike, then this shouldn't be a big deal, but again, completely unknown.

• Finally, SMILING!  I will try my hardest to SMILE whenever I think about it!  Typically in race photos I look like I am in extreme pain or just plain angry.  Often I think I'm smiling and it comes out as more of a grimace!  In 2012, when running the Shamrock Marathon, I saw my BFF Christy at mile 12.  I was having a terrible race already, but knew that she would be there and was looking forward to her cheers.  In my mind, I smiled and waved...later she told me I did no such thing. So for the Ironman I will really try hard to smile, not only for the photos but just to make myself feel better when things get rough, as I know they will.  

• The finish: I hope to enjoy that finishing chute, which I've heard is the best on the Ironman circuit.  Hopefully I will still have enough control of my body to raise my arms, smile, cry, laugh, shout, and enjoy every step towards that finish line!  

So that's the plan.  I will remain flexible and roll with the punches as they come, but I feel good about most everything at this point, so only time will tell! (Time, as of now, by the way, stands at 11 days, 17 hours, 32 minutes and 55 seconds.)