"There is no tomorrow"

Well the time has come. 5 & 1/2 days until I take battle with not only 1600 other hardcore athletes but also myself with the aim of putting a sizable PB next to my name in the 2008 Ironman Australia in Pt Macquarie on Sunday 6th April.
Coach Tippet at ETPA has provided me with the platform over the winter months and along with PB's in both my Half Ironman's that I competed in, I feel healthy in both mind & body.
Tomorrow morning I jump on a plane with Jess and a couple of friends (and training partner) Jimmy & Fay heading for the lovely town of Pt Macquarie.
Once up there, I will need to control all emotions as this is where you can waste lots of energy by getting caught up in all the pre race hype.
This year I feel a lot better prepared as I have a year of training under my belt and a better understanding of what the day is all about - In saying that, I still have a MASSIVE amount to learn and that will take years - for now, it's all about listening to what those close to me have to say, taking it in and believing what my mind tells me. At the end of the day, I'm the only one responsible for my actions on the day and what I do at certain times of the day to make my race a successful one.
A quick thank you ( in no particular order) too:
Jess & my baby ninja (Due 08/08/2008)
Coach Tippet
Komo (Racing IM)
Pistol (Racing IM)
Jimmy D
Captain
Princess
Big Boy
Damo
Ron
Dennis
And all ETPA training partners that have helped me out throughout the year.
Not only will I do you all proud, I will do myself proud.
Supported with my mantra of:
"Nice & light and full of fight"
&
"HTFU"
"There is no tomorrow"
Stay tuned for my race report
Happy training / racing
Caff

"When it rains they sleep"

Today was the end of week one of an endurance phase which has seen lots of K's riding & running.
Today, Pistol Pete & I rode out on our journey towards to cold & wet town of Ballarat - and we weren't disappointed - Yep, it rained all the way there and half the way back!
As we had plenty of time to talk & think about what we were doing, my thoughts went along the lines of - YES, we are the only ones out here....... conclusion, "When it rains they sleep"
I must say that riding with Pistol is fantastic as his passion and reason for doing what we do is first class...... and he can ride!!!!!....... he has an engine and it's about to be unleashed!!!!
When I woke this morning I could hear the rain smashing down on the roof, for a brief moment I thought to myself now nice that was until I remembered that I was to be riding in it only an hour later.
Back to reason for this blog ..... I can only hope that the conditions at both Geelong & Pt Mac are like today as a fair amount of my competitors would have rolled over and said "Not today".
I know that the hard core group at ETPA would have jumped out of bed like they do every morning with one thing in mind. Train & train hard ..... the results will then look after themselves.
I have a mirror image of training this week so the legs may be looking for a well earned massage by the end of the week in preparation for the Geelong Half Ironman. From there it's off to Pt Mac and after last year when it gave me a good slapping, this and many more "endurance phase" training sets will give me the tools I need to give it one back ..... as I will be taking a secret weapon with me ... it's called HTFU.
Off to get me another mug of liquid gold
Caff

Working with the same Attitude

Time has come for a fellow ETPA athlete to finally live his dream.
Julian Wain AKA Captain is about to take the journey of what will be the most amazing day of his life
KONA - Yep, the Hawaiian Ironman 2007 is only hours away and the Captain has deserved the right to be with the worlds best.
So while Captain is slugging it out, a few desperates with the same attitude will be following him in my living room.
Yep, I have set up a live feed from the laptop into the Plasma and in the wee hours of Sunday morning Komo, Jimmy D, Damo & I will be smashing ourselves to pieces on the Mag trainer watching the live feed of Hawaiian Ironman 2007. At 2:30 am, we will be showing our respect to Captain and applying the same attitude as he has and hopefully give him that added "something extra" when "that" time comes.
I guess where I'm going with this is that it's great to be associated & surrounded by people with the same attitude and goals as I have.
This is 100% NOT the sport to have negative people and thoughts around you. You not only need to be fit & healthy, you need to be mentally strong and positive. Last week, I had a few days where I wasn't where I needed to be with regards to my mental thoughts ......... and it didn't take long to get back into the right frame of mind purely because of the people that I surround myself with.
You guys know who you are and I thank you for that.
So the preparation is about to start for me ... off to find as many towels, old sheets etc to lay on the floor to soak up the many buckets of sweat, make sure the coffee machine is full, drink bottles are full and most of all, a final check to make sure the live stream from Hawaii to Melbourne Australia is spot on (which it will be as I have checked it every night this week!!!)
I know all at ETPA wish the Captain every success tomorrow
I know he will SMASH it
Caff