With only 2 days to go, I'm beginning to focus on equipment and positive thoughts. Checked my running shoes last night and realized they were pretty worn...went out and purchased a new pair of Brooks Glycerin 6 today and I'll do a short 3 mile run in them tonight after a short 1800 yrd swim. I'm taking off work tomorrow to attend the athlete's breakfast, pick up my race packet, clean and lube my bike, change my tires and pack my tri bag. Tonight I'll eat pasta w/ meatballs and tomorrow night I'll eat a light meal...maybe fish with white rice. Race morning I'll have a bagel with cream cheese and jam...glucose permitting.

Unfortunately, the weather looks a bit overcast today and the forecast calls for rain tomorrow and on race day. I don't mind doing a sprint in the rain but a 70.3 in the rain can be a bit dicey....but hey...at least it will be cool!  

Only 3 days to go....Oh Yeah! Although I fell behind my training last month due to business travel, I've been able to accomplish all my training these past two weeks. I feel ready. Thanks to Epic, Fleet Feet, Gear for Multisport and Team Hendryx for their awesome support and encouragement. Y'all have been really great! I'm excited and looking forward to a great race and hopefully a podium finish (would be my first at this distance). I stopped drinking alcohol about 2 weeks ago (Man!..what a drag!) to try and give me the best possible chance to do my very best. Normally, I'm on a low carbohydrate, low fat diet to assist me in controlling blood sugar levels but this week I've changed the program and have been consuming lots of carbs to see if stamina is increased during the run. I've had some difficulty maintaining my strength and stamina during the run portion of longer races...maybe it's due to diet...we'll see what happens. I've also increased my salt intake...normally, I never salt my food which may also be responsible for some decrease in run performance on hot days.

 On race day, I'll take my fanny pack for the bike and run. In it, I'l have my glucose meter, test strips, and lancet device in a ziplock. I'll also carry a vial of Humalog insulin and a syringe along with EnduroTabs (salt/electrolytes) and seven (7) Hammer Gels for carbohydrates with one (1) Hammer Bar. On the bike I'll have one water bottle with water and the other bottle with Hammer Perpetuem. My plan is to start the swim with a blood sugar of around 200 and then check my glucose in transition prior to starting the bike. I'm hopeful I'll not need to check my glucose again until back in transition to start the run...but you can never tell how this will work out...sometimes I do need to stop the bike and run a glucose check. During the run, I'll see how I feel and, unless I feel sluggish, I'll only stop to check glucose at miles 4 and 8. If sluggish, however, I'll need to stop more frequently to test. While testing is certainly necessary, the drawback is that it normally takes about 1.5 - 2 minutes for each glucose test...I've got to stop, open the fanny pack, dig out the ziplock, open it, take the meter and strips and lancet out, put the strip in the meter, try to dry my finger, prick my finger with the lancet device, get the blood on the strip, wait for the reading, and then put everything back and either...take out the insulin and syringe for a shot if glucose is high, or consume some carbs if blood sugar is low. If I check my glucose 4 times during a race...I've already lost betwen 6 and 8 minutes...hard to make the podium when you drop that kind of time...such is life...the way I look at is that you just do what you have to do because.....the alternative is not very attractive.

Did The Nation's Triathlon (Olympic Distance) in Washington DC on September 14th. What a great race! The entire bike and run courses were completely closed to vehicular traffic. The course was just spectacular. There were 3500 athletes making it the 2nd largest urban triathlon in the nation, behind St. Anthony's in St. Pete. The swim was in the (Ugghh) Potomac River. A very dirty body of water but, surprisingly, you didn't really notice it. You entered the river and swam out to tread water before the "in water" start. You swam up river against a slight current and underneath the bridge that connects the Lincoln Memorial to the Arlington Cemetary. You continued to swim for maybe 200 yds and then took a left to the turn buoy, made another left and swam back under the bridge with the slight current helping you along. It was really surprising to see the large number of athletes losing direction and swimming way off course..the sunlight was a problem for vision but didn't really explain the difficulty that many swimmers had on this day. Fortunately, I swam true and had a quick swim. There was a long run to transition...the best organized transition area in any race I've ever done...each bike row marked with a large colorful banner with individual row number...and then off for a beautiful ride past many monuments and memorials onto the Clara Barton roadway along the river...very nice...and no cars! Man, that was just really great. Unfortunately, it was very, very hot. In fact, they set a new record high for temperature on this day in Wash DC. I jumped off the bike and ran into transition and knew I was in trouble. I immediately cramped up in both legs. It was very difficult to run for the first mile...I was seriously dehydrated. I probably started down the road to dehydration during the swim. It was really too warm for a wetsuit...they must have searched long and deep to find a cold pocket of water. I'm sure it became increasingly worse during the bike...but I didn't feel it until I started the run. It was all down hill from that point. I've read a number of articles in medical journals that state that diabetics are particularly susceptible to heat related problems. This may have been what was going on here. I've noticed that as I've gotten older, starting around age 48, my ability to endure significant heat during long distances has become problematic. Recently, this has only really been a problem for me during the run portion of longer races in Florida in the summer months...but in Wash DC on this day the temp was 95 and it was very humid. Notwithstanding my poor run performance, the run course was spectatcular. We ran along the river and then past several memorials and monuments and finished running along Pennsylvania Ave with the Capital Building behind us. This made for really great pictures at the finish line. While in Washington we were able to climb the Washington Monument and went to the Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea, and World War II memorials as well as the Space museum and Portait Gallery. Really nice trip.

As soon as I returned I had business travel to Boston, Tennessee, California and the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas). This made it really difficult to get my planned training accomplished for the remainder of September. I was able to run in Boston and Tennessee and did some open water swimming in St. Thomas, but I fell really behind in my training log. Now that I'm back and with only 2 1/2 weeks before the big race I need to buckle down and devote some serious time getting up to speed and getting prepared.

Recently returned from Colorado where my daughter Ciara "Pepper" Hopkins, age 11, was competing in the USA Triathlon Youth National Championship in Colorado Springs. She was defending her National title from 2007, but it was not to be. This year she was the 2nd youngest athlete in her division and placed 5th overall and was the 1st eleven year old across the finish line. She would have taken 3rd but made a wrong turn on the bike course...some lessons are difficult to learn. Congrats to those who finished ahead of her!

After Nationals we took a week off and stayed with family in a cabin at 9200 ft in the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountains...not much training...just having fun and spending time with family. We did get to climb Handies Peak a 14,000 ft mountain in the San Juan mountain range, went white water kayaking on the Rio Grande River in New Mexico, and managed to do some altitude running and mountain biking around the cabin....a challenge for a flatlander at that altitude.

Saw lots of wildlife while staying at the cabin. Each morning a Mule deer doe with fawn would saunter into the meadow just off the cabin porch to the delight of all. While driving around one evening we came upon a large herd of Elk grazing on a mountain side meadow...continued on and passed a young bear, maybe 225 lbs who, when startled by us, began to climb up a tree, stop and elongate himself making him much thinner and very difficult to see...he really blended in with the tree. On the way back, just before dark, a large porcupine crossed the road just ahead of us and slowly made his way down an embankment to his den...very unusual animal. There were also redtailed hawks, coyote, and beaver near the property. It was an interesting trip and a nice diversion from the training schedule but, alas, back I am..trying to figure out how to work in my training in the midst of tropical storm Faye...and the several hundred emails in my inbox.

Next race is the Nation's Triathlon in Washington DC on September 14th. I'm looking forward to this Olympic distance race..the swim is in the Potomac and the run course is a closed course around the Mall and past all the monuments and memorials...should be a great day....

It's Willamette "Damit"...said the wine barista...and then I remembered how to say it...not Willahmet. I also said Oregon like Ore"gone" instead of Oregen...which immediately pegged me as an outsider. Yeah..the Pinot Noir in this valley is outstanding at most wineries...as is the Pint Gris and Viognier, especially at Witness Tree vineyards. Nothing like a beautiful day of wine tasting before an Olympic distance race..hey it's like I've said before...it's why we do these things...right?

I rented a bike from a local bike shop...a Fuji Roubaix with Shimano 105...it was the best bike I could find. I brought along my pedals, shoes and clip-on aerobars...I only wish I had a cyclometer...riding without one is like riding blind. Anyway, it served its purpose just fine. It was an interesting race morning at Blue Lake Park outside of Portland. I awoke at 5:45 am with a BS of 46 and was a bit confused. Had difficulty figuring out exactly what to do, how to turn off the alarm, etc. Drank 12 oz of Orange Juice...You just can't take the Florida out of this boy!...and crammed a blueberry danish from Whole Foods down my throat. Hypoglycemia will do that to you. Fortunately, I had packed my race bag and other items the night before...so I was basically ready to go. I went down to breakfast and ate a bagel...mistake. Went to the race site where the air temp was about 53 degrees and the water temp was about 65 degrees..and, there was a very light mist in the air with overcast skies....And I had said I was tired of those hot, humid Florida race mornings...I sure was looking for one now! So, it was damp and cold. Checked my BS before race start and, as with the last race, it had climbed to 312. So..what to do? Take a small shot, or start the race and hope the exercise would bring it down. And, as with the last race, I started with the hope my BS would drop to a reasonable range. I had a remarkably good swim, leaving the water in 25 mins...and ran to transition to start the bike. At this point I felt confident there were probably 1 maybe 2 guys in my age group ahead of me...so I chose not to stop to check my BS...I just pressed on trying to pick them off. No such luck. I kept my place throughout the bike (along the Columbia River) which was flat out and back with wind and started the run. Felt good at the start but then I began to fall off my pace and at about mile 4 was passed by one in my age group..tried to pick it up but couldn't stay with him. At mile 5 was passed by yet another. I knew there were 2 more behind me closing in. With 1/2 mile to go I started to kick because the guy behind me started to close the gap...I outpaced him and came within 50 yrds of the guy ahead of me but it was too late to pick him off. Immediately after the race I went to the medical tent where there was a table for me to check my BS...it was now...343. Damn...took 3 units of Humalog and went to check the results....I took 6th place....So there was another guy ahead of me that I never saw. Now...the question is: What do I do next time when my BS is 300 before race start? Since I have now had 2 races in a row with this same situation and with the same result...I'll try taking 1 or 2 units of Humalog and see what happens...being mindful of the potential for Hypoglycemia during the race. Anyway...you've got to try new things..see what works and what does not...then, maybe the better option is to try not to have a low BS early in the morning..and eat much less. 

So, I'm off to Colorado Springs where my daughter (11 yrs old) is defending her title as the 2007 USAT Youth National Champion on August 9th...We'll then stay a week vacationing in the Sangre de Cristo mountains and maybe climb a 14er or two.....