Already thinking ahead to B2B

I’m already thinking ahead to my full iron race in November. I mean, that’s almost a year away, and my training for that race won’t start until early May. Yet, I think alot about it. And I wonder what have I gotten myself into?

My last bike ride in particular, got me thinking about the B2B bike ride. I pushed hard during last Sunday’s ride because I was cold, and pushing hard kept me nice and warm. But riding those 50 miles in Zone 4 left my legs trashed. They still hurt today, four days later.

I read with great interest all the B2B race reports posted on the BT website. The overwhelming theme was how cold it was coming out of the water and for the first few hours on the bike. The temperature was 38 degrees that morning.

I will have to make sure I have plenty of layers on for warmth, so I am not tempted to push hard. You cannot finish an Ironman race, if you’ve spent the 112 mile bike ride in Zone 4.

A few great ideas I got from reading the race reports:

• don’t use the wetsuit strippers. Keep your wetsuit on for the 400 yard run to T1. You’ll stay alot warmer!
• Neoprene booties for the swim!
• Neoprene cap, too
• Stuff newspaper into your bike shirt as a layer that can easily be discarded later
• cheap gloves for the first part of the bike, again for easy discarding
• take plenty of time in T1 to dry off, change clothes, and warm up. Many of the top finishers in last year’s race had 15 minute T1 times.

Maybe I’ll be lucky and the weather will be warming on Nov 7, 2009!