Excitement is building, just 6 sleeps to go...
Not realising I needed to sign up for the IM practise swim two weeks before I got here it had already sold out. I could have swum at the back once the swimmers had all set off but I’d arranged to do a sea swim coached session with Karlyn Pipes and this morning turned out to be the best day for both of us.
The full session was 90 minutes in which we included swimming 1.9km but on the ’local course’ of the IM route which is further towards the shore over the beautiful reef. Karlyn said it was the safest place to swim before race day, as more and more swimmers arrive, there is greater potential for head collisions by the buoys as there are a lot of swimmers heading out but also in on the same lines. The buoys out at the moment are not the race day buoys, they are placed properly on Friday.
We discussed warming up in the water on race morning, which involves a drill called ‘chicken wings’, we practised sighting and focusing on my wider arms and shorter exit on the pull phase, hence more balanced body. I do feel a lot more efficient in the water. As Tony says it would have been good to practise my old technique on the 3.8km swim course and my new technique to compare times (although the sea conditions would have to be the same to make it an accurate comparison). I will swim the full course on Tuesday morning but as it is taper week there isn’t sufficient time to practise twice.
Here is one of the video links of the swim:-
We were greeted by the Ironman turtle who has been hanging around each morning feeding off algae on the pier wall...
Here’s a video...
Ali Brownlee won the IM practise swim 🇬🇧
A video of the top swimmers coming in to the finish...
On the way to my pancake breakfast at Lava Java I did some sight seeing in town...
Tents are being erected all through town now and Ironman banners are going up as race week approaches. There is a mix of excitement and tension in the air, or is that myself 🤔
End of the day I did some stretching on the grass just below my condo whilst looking at this special view. Despite missing my children very much, I feel so so very grateful to be here.
