RACE WEEK!!

Mariah Bridges

AWWWW YEAHHH!!!! Get hype! Its here! Put the final touches on all things #EN4Keys - grab that list, check it twice. Make sure you've saved some time to hang with your EN peeps, get lots of sleep and SEE YOU IN RALEIGH! 

GroupMe will start end of the week but if you need me until then 919-961-4393 or mariah@endurancenation.us Cant wait to welcome you all to my home town and show you how Raleigh does a race! 

Please make sure you're friends with me on Facebook so I can post on the EN sites for us and follow EN on Instagram and Twitter- remember to tag us in your pics and use the hashtag #EN4Keys (Raleigh's IRONMAN official hashtag is #IM703Raleigh so tag Ironman and us as well. 

REMEMBER!!!! TRI CLUB POINTS are a must. So go online and register yourself with Ironman AND AND AND go to the triclub tent at the expo and register. We are going for a TRI-PEET this year and we need every single point to do it. 

Hope to see you all out there sporting your EN gear, EN smile, EN attitudes, EN mojo and EN POWER!

Nemo Brauch

OK- just to be clear, in addition to being registered with Ironman as a "club" member, we also need to stop by the Triclub Tent at the expo and register there too. Right? I want to be sure we get points!

My toes are painted, my bike is cleaned and tuned, my plan is written, my packing checklist is written, and I've had my final massage. Nothing left to do now except rest and stay healthy! Woohoo!

Mariah Bridges

@nemo - yes IM is having issues with web and in person- so we are asking people to do both- We lost a lot of points when they told us to go the online route and then it messed up. I don't want to lose the TriClub Champ title bc of their error - takes 2 mins so hopefully we can all remember that at the athlete check in

Nemo Brauch

Perfect, thanks Mariah!  I'll be sure to hit that

 

FYI- I'm pretty sure I mentioned this already, but I'll be coming to Raleigh with a large group of OBXers.  Half of us (including myself) will be wearing the blue jersey in the pic below, the other half will be wearing a different kit (folks who are part of a Bootcamp group).  I WILL be sporting my pink EN Chica visor on the run- so that's how you'll recognize me from the others!  (Yes, this is me with Mary Beth Ellis- sorry it's so big- I can't figure out how to make this smaller)

Danielle Santucci

What a great picture Nemo! I love Mary Beth Ellis! Met her last year while checking in my bike at T1 in Raleigh. Super nice!

Nemo Brauch

Hey folks, one thing I've realized recently is that many of us (myself included) are failing to mention sunscreen in our race plans. It may seem obvious, but I got burned pretty bad at Kinetic 2 weeks ago and that was after applying 50+ sunscreen in the morning. So this time I'm carrying a little extra to apply on the run as I go. Let's not get cancer, ok?

drjohnson08

Great pic Nemo, very cool! I'll be looking for you on race day riding/running like MBE!

Nemo Brauch

@Doug, I'm going with that visualization! I like MBE a lot- she's small like me :-)

Ralph Moore

So,

I got a hotel room!  That's one less thing to worry about.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at team lunch.

Got to go get my Kit back from the alterations shop where they added a white band around the waist of the jersey so I didn't have that Brittany Spears bare middriff look. It just wasn't working for me.

Switching off my 11-32 cassette from Blue Ridge Camp for my usual 11-28 then should be pretty much ready to go.



I will post my race plan soon, I promise.

drjohnson08

@Ralph, don't think Brittany Spears, think some of the pro men! Those guys pull it off, so can you!

drjohnson08

@Ralph, I can't pull it off either!


60 minutes on the trainer today and a short run after. Tonight I'm packing up the car with all my gear. Tomorrow morning I'm going to do a short run and hit the road to Virginia. I'll spend the night at my aunt and uncle's and finish the trip to Raleigh on Friday. Really looking forward to meeting up with everyone and getting this thing done!

Nemo Brauch

@Ralph, don't think Brittany Spears, think some of the pro men! Those guys pull it off, so can you!

Yeah, think Faris!

It's packing day for me, which means I finally allow myself to look at the weather forecast. Partly cloudly, High of 90, Humidity 59% (not too bad), wind 6mph SSW (which I think is gonna be mostly tailwind but 6mph aint nothing really anyway) and UV index of 10 (out of 10). Gonna be hot- just like it has been advertised! I predict lots of folks blowing up on this course, let's not be any of them!!! I'm gonna add another 15 seconds to my run pace plan at least for the first 3 miles to make sure I'm handling the heat OK.

Oh- and thanks to Mariah- I'm also adding a short pit stop at the sunscreen sprayers as we exit T1 and T2 for a blast to the shoulders.

Nemo Brauch

Understanding that the most correct answer is "we won't know until race morning"..............

Do any of the Raleigh locals have an educated guess for if the lake is gonna be too warm for wetsuits? Seems like you all have had a lot of hot weather lately that probably is heating up the lake.

Ralph Moore

@Nemo - Yeah, because if it is not wetsuit legal, I am more likely to use a trisuit instead of EN kit and it would be nice to know...

BTW, Did I miss the call for Raleigh Bios? I noticed that they are up on the main page and I obviously missed something but I didn't see all of you there either.

R2

Nemo Brauch

I missed that memo too Ralph! Wish I owned a Trisuit. I haven't had the need to use one before.

John Henault

Nemo - Mariah sent to the groupme list that the water was 76 today, and it is supposed to rain tonight. I can say that 2 years ago, the water was 78 the day before the race and it was HOT that day. I figured there would be no way in hell the water would be wetsuit legal, so I left my wetsuit sitting on the floor in my hotel room. Sure enough, they must have measured the temp that morning after dumping in a bucket of ice, and the temp was barely legal. I learned my lesson! Regardless of the temp the day before, I'm bringing my wetsuit and a swimskin with me in the morning.

Re the bios, I must have missed that also. I thought an email was supposed to go out, but I never received it. By the looks of how many people actually provided bios, I'm guessing most of us didn't get the memo.

Nemo Brauch

Thanks John! I got the Group me welcome but didn't see that post. Seems I turned off the SMS for some reason. I should be all set now.

I'll bring the wettie for sure. IIRC, when/if they declare "Wetsuit Optional" (not eligible for awards if you wear it) they essentially add a wave at the very end for everyone who is going to wear a wetsuit. Under those conditions, I'll swim sans wettie because the 5ish minutes I gain with the wetsuit isn't worth waiting nearly another hour to start.

Nemo Brauch

All- if you haven't had a chance to do so- check out this page from the Wiki on racing in the heat with a video by Coach P
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Racing+in+the+Heat:+Managing+Expectations+and+Perf

Mariah Bridges

FYI- Had to change our reservations (this will actually be easier if you are staying downtown or headed to the expo) we are eating at Jimmy V's 420 Fayetteville St, Raleigh, NC 27601 at same time NOON saturday - this is right by the expo (literally same block) I will post this to the dashboard and in GroupMe- pass it along if you know someone who isn't in any of those groups

Marceloperod

Have a great race!!! Destroy your PR!