5 Days......

This is a pic of us crossing over into Canada at Border Patrol.
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First let me say, Penticton is a unique and beautiful place. Driving in the entire way we were surrouned by orchards on both sides of the road. Having only been here for two days, it is everything people say about it. It is a quaint little town of about 30,000. Tons of great rock climbing venues, it is a wine country with tons of vineyards, awesome mountain biking and hiking trails. Not to mention the two huge lakes that the city sits in between. A true haven for outdoors.

We settled in on Sunday after we arrived here and I swam in the lake on Monday morning. It is spectacular! The water is almost a little “Hawaii-esque.” It is amazingly clear. Definitely the best IM swim I will have done. The only difference is that you look at ugly vegetation 12 feet down and not yellow and purple fish. The water temp seemed to be perfect, not too hot and just a tad on the cool side which is perfect for me.

(This is the first step of Richter Pass)

The training that I did the summer is all starting to finally make sense. Swam a little over 4K this morning in the pool and then headed to the track to do a MAP test. The structure was exactly like the last one I did. Warm up well and then do a 3 mile run on the track recording each mile. Instead of using a HR of 155 like I did last time, I used 145. I didn’t expect to get too much info from this run except to help me determine what I was going to be doing for the first 30-45 minutes of the run. My results were as I would expect, not necessarily what I would like. But as always, I have to keep reminding myself that this is “project 26.2,” it’ll come with time (hopefully).

LAP // TIME // AVG HR
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1 // 8:15 // 145
2 // 8:56 // 146
3 // 8:36 // 146

After the run, Jeff and I headed out to the bike course to do the small, 16.5 mile out and back section. It is around mile 67’ish or so. Let me first say, the course scenery is amazing. Very difficult to justly describe the beauty, hopefully the pics will help. All the climbing I did this summer will pay off. The climb to Richter Pass, the first big climb, which is about 11K long is broken up into basically a 3-stair fashion. After the climb, you descend for sometime to the out and back section and then onto the 2nd big climb of the day, Yellow Lake (YL). YL is about half as long, but steeper. Once up Yellow Lake, it is a 20-25K descent home. Quite a perfect time to re-fuel and rest a little for the run.

I am feeling quite good these days. I can usually tell things are going well when I just want the race to be over. I want it to be here tomorrow! I feel solid in the swim, patient on the bike, and reserved for the run. I believe its gonna be a fun day. My parents arrive late Thursday, can’t wait for them to be here.

I will swim tomorrow for about 30 minutes at the lake and then do a brick in the afternoon.

I am trying to get something set up so that my blog will have close to real time updates on race day for the four of us racing here. I will let you know if it works out.

Lastly, thanks to everyone that has written me an email. I really appreciate your thoughts, they truly go a long way.

Chill’axin,
J

Here is my play list for the transition area. The highlighted songs are “J’s Hype” songs.

Make It Work // Ne-Yo
The Best of What’s Around // Dave Matthews Band
Stay Fly // Three 6 Mafia
Hypnotic // Craig David
The Real Slim Shady // Eminem
Fill Me In (Remix) // Craig David
Life is a Highway // Rascal Flatts
I’m Coming Out // Diana Ross
Hit Me with Your Best Shot // Pat Benatar
The Way I Are // Timbaland ft. Keri Hilson
Down Under // Men At Work
Glamorous // Fergie
If Everyone Cared // Nickelback
Encore (Remix) // Linkin Park ft. Jay-Z
Summer Love - Set The Mood Prelude// Justin Timberlake & Timbaland
Sandstorm // DaRude
Another Chance // Roger Sanchez
Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song) // Safri Duo
Dance Hall Days // Wang Chung
The Sweet Escape // Gwen Stefani
Sexy Love (Duet Remix) // Ne-Yo ft. Candace Jones
Changes // Tupac Shakur
Margarita // Pharrell ft. Big Boi
Rockstar // Nickelback
Stand // Rascal Flatts
Animals // Nickelback
Hard as a Rock // ACDC
Bartender // T-Pain ft. Akon
Forgot About Dre // Eminem ft. Dr. Dre
Little Things // Bush