Entering the Race Zone...

Well here we are in Kona with just three sleeps until the Big One! I can now say we are officially entering and experiencing the Ironman Race Zone.

I wrote a while back about my IM entering the zone - the zone of serious training, watching what he eats, thinking about the race and planning the road to Kona. Now that we are here and so close to race day, a new zone is upon us.

This is the period of serious focus and planning. Final short taper sessions in all three sports, checking and rechecking race kit, registration, the hype of expos and race banquet, a fair bit of pro-spotting, relaxation when you can get it and a lot of thinking through the experience they are about to endure. The hype, the talk, the build up - it results in an energy around town that is hard to describe and a focus on one day not like any I have experienced before.

As I heard a Pro say today, your race year all comes down to your performance in Hawaii - and I think the age-groupers probably feel just the same.

You hear it all - it's like no other, everybody suffers, it will strip you down to your core, you need to focus to go beyond the pain, you may go to where you have never been before, leave your time expectations on the pier....yet the competitors are saying just Bring It On!

I can't even imagine what I might be writing about come Sunday. In the meantime, we are trying to remember to soak it all up, take it all in and get all we can out of our first Kona experience because as we all know, the first time is always the best.

See our latest snap shots from our day in our Flikr Album