Race Week, Wednesday 26th February 2014

Absolutely shattered tonight - so this is gonna be a quick one.. (Can hear you all sighing with relief from here!!)
Usual morning here at the Kidds household - chaos!!
Picked up some Hammer gels I needed from Jeff at Kiwi Bikes today - he is the only one who stocks my favourite Gels, Vitamin C from the chemist (Max and Lockie woke up with the sniffles today so they are going to be dosed!) and fruit from my favourite fruit shop.  Headed off to the forest straight after school run for a quick 30 min run.  Had a lovely chat to friends along the way and then met up with Mike from 'The weekender' newspaper for an article and Stephen Parker for a quick photo shoot!  Felt like a local celeb in my PORSE gear getting photographed in the forest!!  Will be in the weekender this weekend for you Rotorua lot!
Headed into the PORSE office for a chat with my lovely workmates and I was a little excited so didn't leave till it was time to collect Max for his school visit.  Thanks for all the wonderful laughs and support over this journey - you guys rock!
Same ole same ole this arvo, school visit, school runs, afterschool chores/homework etc and then headed off to the PORSE office for a celebration evening for our lovely PORSE educators with our founding director Jenny Yule.  Was a super night, celebrating all of our long standing educators for their wonderful commitment over the years. I also got the chance to personally thank Jenny for all of the awesome support she has given to me over the past year.  If it wasn't for her sponsorship - I wouldn't be doing Ironman today.  Plain and simple.  Hugest thanks. 
Got the loveliest surprise also as was presented a gorgeous 'good luck' poster with all of the children's handprints on from my PORSE family.  Was so chuffed and also in awe that they managed to pull the wool over my eyes about the delivery of this gift.  I actually helped the kids do the handprints and thought that these were going into a folder for Jenny Yule to take back to the head office for their 20th anniversary celebration!!! Thanks Niki Walton for organising!

Niki and myself with my poster

Me and Jenny Yule

Got home to the most amazingly awesome post from my husband and I just want to take this time to say - I most DEFINATELY could not have done this without you Greg.  It has been a hugely windy road to get to this week with huge up's and HUGE down's.  But we have stuck together and pulled through it and you are just simply - the BEST.  Thanks so much for your amazing support and your belief in me.
Tears from me, enough now - bed time.
Registration day tomorrow. HOLY CRAP!

Race Week Tuesday 25th February, 2014

My day initially started at 3am today.  Yes, Max sneaking into my bed, Greg trying to redirect him back to his own bed, tears, yelling, waking his brother and then finally relenting and letting him in.  I guess that's just how we will roll!  Mental note, sleep in a bedroom far farrrr away from those 2 on Friday!
Happy kids this morning thankfully which made for a smooth transition on school run.
Rest day today which I am extremely thankful for.  I have managed to keep this cold at bay for now but did wake with really tight, sore IT bands, all the way down the side of my leg and in my lower back.  Not ideal, but just a reminder to keep stretching and look after myself this week.  Maybe opting out of a massage wasn't a good idea??
ANYWAYS....What a day.
I helped out with the RATS Schools duathlon today which was just plain exhausting!  I give full credit to those volunteers on Ironman day who tirelessly help us out from 6am-midnight. I have helped out at the odd event here and there, but to be on my feet for 5 hours solidly, supporting, guiding, directing, cheering, telling, smiling, was just plain tiring.  I also admire the work that is put into these types of events by very few members of a small group VOLUNTEERING their time.  Sometimes people at events are quick to judge what isn't going well and often forget that a huge amount of volunteered hours have gone into creating this fun and inclusive event for all of these children.  Winners or not, we are all here to have fun.  My highlight for the day was running alongside a boy who looked like he was about to burst into tears on his final run of the long course.  I said 'I'll run with you if you like' and he thought about this momentarily, then looked at me and said 'I'd rather you got me a drink!'.  I ran back to the registration tent, located the water and raced back over to him.  'Oh thanks sooooo much miss' he said with a huge grin.  He drank the whole lot and then took off, passing a few children on the way! He came up to me at the end and said thank you again.  Now that's what its all about!! Awesome!
There were loads of people out there today that were eager to see how I was tapering and also feeling about the weekend.  Surprisingly I am really calm and totally of the attitude - 'I've done all I can, I'm just ready to do it'.  It is actually a nice feeling to be at peace finally with 'The Ironman'.  He has no hold over me..... not today anyway!
Enough time to quickly tick another few items off my list at the shop on the way to do school run.  Small containers for protein powder (have decided to have a protein shake in transition from swim-bike and bike -run). Can also use these to divvy out my chafe cream between my swim, bike and run bags.  Just have to put my magic 'Elete' anti cramp electrolyte mixture into my little eye dropper containers for bike and run and I think I might just about be sorted.!
Won't be far outta bed tonight - has been a huge day.

RaceWeek Monday 24th February, 2014.

Have been feeling a bit blaaahhh the last few days so when I woke up today, felt pleasantly surprised that my throat was not sore, just a bit of a blocked nose.  I guess it is better to feel like crap the weekend before Ironman and not on Ironman weekend!!
Have kept away from swimming at the end of last week so was keen to get out in the water today.
Woke first at 5am with small child entering my bed.  He snuggles as close to his dad as possible so as not to wake the roaring lion on the other side (me) who makes him go back to his own bed!  Back to sleep momentarily then woken with Greg leaving for work.  All the rest of the family still sleeping.  Get up, get my usual porridge with yogurt, protein shake, coffee and large bottle of water  - breakfast! The tribe awakes and today, Max was the only one who actually greets me happily.  The other 2 having issues of some sort or another that apparently are my issues to solve. Sort dishes, beds, clothes, lunches, washing and then off to do school run. Georja to her school, Lockie to his school and then Max to kindy.  Fortunately Lockie had forgotten that he was NOT going to school today under any circumstances and got out of the car without a fuss!
Home to collect bike, morning tea and swim bag.  Into Cyclezone where I got a much happier reception than the one I got first thing from my children!  Bike is in for a pre-Ironman check.  I was proud to say that I got my new tyres on not only by myself, but also around the right way!! (Yes - bike tyres have a certain direction they went in - who knew!!)
Head out to the Blue Lake - sending a quick text to Greg on the way as I hadn't actually told anyone I was swimming today.  Got into wetsuit and headed out to the 7th buoy and back 2x for my scheduled session for the day.  Tested out my new goggles and they work!  Out of the water and a quick run around the grassed area in my wetsuit to simulate the 400m run to transition area on Ironman day (much to the humour of the old couple having coffee in their camper van probably wondering what on the earth I'm doing!!)  Am continually blown away by the gains made over the last 6months in my training.  Not only is this distance now 'easy', but I can also do it on my own with not even a glimpse of panic or terror that I used to get in open water.  It just shows that if you just stick to doing something over and over, it soon becomes habit. 
Home for shower/lunch etc and a quick sort of the stuff I have started to collect on bedroom floor.  Seperated things into 3x bags today - swim, bike and run bags and realised I have nearly sorted everything I need!  Yay me!  Got out my race plan again and tweaked a few things here and there.  It is so helpful to get things sorted in your head early, as today I realised that I will need to put my bike fuel in my swim bag, not in my bike bag as it is going in my little bento box on my bike when I check tyres etc first thing in the morning of race day.  It is little things like this that you don't need throwing your head into a spin come race day!
Before I knew it, it was time for the afternoon school/kindy run and off to collect my bike.  Hugest thanks to the team at Cyclezone who have kept my bike maintained over the past year and also helped me out with advice.  My bike has seen and done a lot in its time but will definitely make it to the end of another Ironman!

Lockie, Steff and Benny at Cyclezone Rotorua.