Later that night we headed back up to Squaw Valley for the Athlete dinner and meeting.
The food was blah or bad and it was freezing in the tent. My fault for not wearing warm enough clothes. The meeting was boring and kind of long. The only important information I heard was that the private neighborhood would be open on Saturday from 3-5 for athletes to drive if we were interested in seeing that part of the course. I think in the future I will eat my own dinner as both IM dinners I have been to have not been good. They have to feed so many people it’s not surprising but I would rather make my own choices (plus it’s expensive for guests).
Crazy….I had a bike and run on my schedule from coach but I just couldn’t wrap my head around going out in the cold and wet. Plus all of my jackets, gloves and hats were packed away for race day. So a bagged the shakeout sessions and decided to just drop my stuff off instead. They were nice and allowed us to put bags over our stuff as well as over our bikes so things wouldn’t be soaked come morning.
I was glad I did because people’s saddles that weren’t covered had ice on them race morning. After dropping my gear at the two different transitions areas (much more of a pain than having one transition area) I had a big lunch then headed out to drive a loop of the bike course. Driving the course looked as I suspected very hilly in the back part of the loop with long stretched of steep 10%+ grades and technical steep down hills that scare me a bit on my TT bike (yes, I am a wuss). After driving the course I was nervous, I knew I was ready and fit enough to finish an Ironman but THIS ironman held many challenges. I told myself to show up, do my best and see where the cards fell. I had planned on having a light dinner but I wasn’t feeling hungry after our big lunch and probably nerves.