Friday, May 23, 2008

Friday night in Brazil

Hey all!

First of all... Wednesday and most of Thursday were extremly long! I left Phoenix at 7:00 a.m and got to my hotel in Floripa at 2 p.m. the following day. Unfortunately, my luggage did not make the trip. It just came tonight. But all is well, my bike will be built tomorrow and I will my first wetsuit swim in the morning sometime. I cannot let something of that nature affect me mentally. Today I hired a taxi and went about thirty miles down the island on the east coast just to get away from all the Ironman hoopla. Everybody at my hotel loves to share their secrets to training, tapering, racing, eating, and I think it just clutters the mind. I do not need to hear how many century rides you put in, or how many meters you swam etc. The environment at the hotel is one that could very easily weaken my self confidence, and I could tell I was starting to have some trouble with it. Especially not having my bike, wetsuit, and running shoes to train with I started to think that I was not prepared and did not deserve to be here. Hoopla, that is all it is. Thus my disapperance for the day. I could not train so I figured I would find some lonely beach to compartmentalize my race and get my mind right.

My bike and luggage came right before I left for the Ironman dinner so I did not even have the chance to admire my long lost ´stuff´. I sat with an excellent group of people at dinner, a British couple, 1 pro named Terry from New York, 1 guy from Oslo, Norway, and 1 guy from Chicago. The past few days we have made pretty good friends. I think that is because we are all very low key. Not your typical A-type personality triathletes. No one was over analyzing anything, we just simply enjoyed the food, and enjoyed each other´s company. It was quite nice for a change. Terry the pro from New York is also the Joanna Zeiger´s coach (top female pro). I had an excellent chat with him and he really gave me some great knowledge about everything Ironman related. I will post about this when I get home most likely. Amazing guy though, I learned a lot in the little time we spent.

Overall I feel good though. I know I will put together the best race possible given the training I have put in. It will be a great learning experience, and I cannot expect much more. Tomorrow I will have a short swim in the ocean with my buddy from Oslo then do a quick bike ride (given my bike is even built yet), and then just relax the rest of the day and try to stay off my feet. My girlfriend Nichole will be arriving in the afternoon tomorrow and I really looking forward to seeing her. She is my biggest fan, so it will be incredibly nice to have some one by my side while I get prepared for Sunday.

Daley
Friday 9:42 p.m.

1 comment:

Scottie said...

Congrats Daley on finishing Ironman Brazil !!! I am very impressed that you put in the time it takes to finish and Ironman. Good job bud.