The Countdown to Cozumel

The final push towards Ironman Cozumel has begun – with just two weeks to go – and I’m feeling a strange combination of both fear and excitement.

I can’t wait for the big day but I’m not sure whether that is because I feel I am (vaguely!) ready or because it will be such a relief to finish. Beyond a bike crash recently caused by an exceptionally unaware bicyclist (so unaware, in fact, that he didn’t even stop after sending me yelping into a parked car), I’ve made it through without major incident and without any injuries that have affected preparation too much.

Luckily my travel schedule has slowed down in the past month or so and I have also had the benefit of access to my own bike and an Olympic size pool to get some decent training sessions in.

Last weekend I managed a 2.4 mile swim on Friday night; a 90 mile bike (and a wedding!) on the Saturday; and a 22 mile run on Sunday, after which I promptly fell asleep for 12 hours. With the morning work-outs, my social life now consists of checking Facebook occasionally or sending a few texts before falling asleep at the same time as many of my friend’s infant children.

I occasionally wake up in the middle of the night and realise I’ve been panicking in my dreams about whether I’ll lose a contact lens on the swim or I’ll get a puncture on the bike, but I suppose at some point there’s only so much preparation you can do and the rest is in the hands of the triathlon gods. I fully intend to make a generous offering of some of my finest energy bars to them when I get to Mexico.

I’ve never found tapering before a race an easy thing to do, but I suppose I’m more or less as prepared as I am going to get for Cozumel. At this point the key will be to try and stay healthy and positive about the whole thing. Friends and family have been hugely supportive (“why on earth would you waste a good holiday in Mexico doing that?!”) and fantastically generous – through donating to my non-profit organization, the Accountability Lab.

So, with my mother’s final words of encouragement providing comfort (“I never thought I’d see a son of mine wearing Lycra!”), I’m heading off to Mexico – appropriate body parts lubricated and fingers crossed.

You can follow Blair on Twitter @blairglencorse. Blair is competing in the Ironman Cozumel for the Accountability Lab: www.accountabilitylab.org.

Matt Baird Editor of Cycling Plus magazine

About

Matt is a regular contributor to 220 Triathlon, having joined the magazine in 2008. He’s raced everything from super-sprint to Ironman, duathlons and off-road triathlons, and can regularly be seen on the roads and trails around Bristol. Matt is the author of Triathlon! from Aurum Press and is now the editor of Cycling Plus magazine.