Today I’ve one my final sessions and the only thing left between me and the race now is rest. I got up and did a 30 minute swim with Jo, Russ and Martyn. We swam to the KM marker but Martyn and I agreed if thats a KM then we’re on fire as we cruised out there in 12:30. The water was lovely and calm. I spent the morning, following coffee and a 500g steak and eggs breakfast, preparing my bike.

I then took it for a 20 minute spin to check it was all AOK. I did a 20 minute run at a good tempo and that is that.

Parade and carbo party tonight then tomorrow racking and emptying the 12 gels above in to a water bottle. Carrying my gels in a bottle on the bike worked well in Kona but unfortunately here I’ve not managed to find bottles of gel so  I’ll have the lovely task of squeezing all those gels out.

My plan is to rest and keep my feet up as much as possible tomorrow hence getting my final pre race blog out of the way.

I’m  a little nervous for this race but not as bad as I’ve been the past few races. I don’t feel under too much pressure as it’s unlikely I’ll get a PB and all I’m really looking for is to run solidly ideally for the whole race. The usual stuff is getting me a little nervous – the swim start and getting in a good position followed by the hard first 15 minutes to get established in a front pack. I’m getting better at dealing with this. Once on the bike I feel it’s my own race, without real hopes of the podium I can be insouciant about any packs that go by. I’m aiming to keep calm by trying to make myself believe it’s a training day… of course once out there it will be anything but.

So lets set out what I think I can achieve on Saturday. It’s nice and symmetric – 55 min swim, 4:55 bike and finish off with a 3:55 run which including transitions should get me in under 10 hours.

Now for a 90 minute nap before the parade…