One thing I’ve been heavily focused on the past few months, aside from the lake temperature in Coeur D’Alene, is the creation of GU’s new website, www.GUenergy.com. We officially launched the site on Wednesday evening, just before I left for the airport bound for Idaho. Check it out if you have a chance, it’s a great place to learn more about our new product, Roctane, as well as browse the bios of our most excellent roster of athletes. (A huge shout-out to Tom Gorton and the crew at Studio Aspect in Sausalito. If you’re looking for a design agency, give them a call!)
In creating the athlete bios for the site, we put several questions to our team. What’s the strangest thing a spectator has ever said to you while you were racing? As a kid, what did you dream of becoming when you grew up? If you were a flavor of GU, what would it be? What are your pre-race superstitions?
The responses about superstition were what intrigued me the most. Several are what you might consider “givens”, rituals that are embraced with urban-myth-acceptance as the gospel of the sport: Never cross the finish line before the race. Rock out to your favorite tunes during warm-up. Shave your legs the night before the race. Or this unique twist: Always shave my legs the night before a race with my wife’s razor. Others give insight into the intense take-no-prisoners attitude that makes these athletes rock-star pros: Visualize only success. Or, one of my favorites, Melanie McQuaid’s perfect quip: I believe if I don’t train hard enough I might not win. And then, of course, there’s this one, which can only be classified as absolutely fascinating: No sex fifteen minutes before the start.
I adhere to my own slew of superstitions and rituals: I always pick up lucky pennies, including the two I found yesterday while on a final training ride with my pal Kay. I lay in bed in the dark prior to a big race and visualize each leg of the event through to the finish – a chance to collect the sum of the parts I’ve trained for wholly in my mind, to see it as the complete experience. I always get a fresh pedicure. Whenever negative thoughts creep in during the race, I always take three deep meditative breaths to dispel them. And now, of course, I’ll make sure I take care of business at least thirty minutes prior to the start.
In case any of you are wondering, 54 degrees really is as cold as it sounds. Yesterday was my first dip in the lake, and it quite literally took my breath away. As Kay so eloquently put it, “It’s like an ice-cream headache without the bonus of the ice cream!” Add to my pre-race rituals a hit off my albuterol inhaler – I’m hoping that will help combat the cold-induced hyperventilation. Ensconced in rubber head to toe - thanks to my Zoot Zenith wetsuit, Zoot neoprene cap and Blue Seventy booties (photo included of Kay and I modeling our rubber kits)– I was actually toasty warm, excluding my hands, face and lungs. And after about ten minutes of shock therapy, the temperature did become more bearable and I was able to get into a bit of a swim rhythm. I’ll brave the water again briefly this morning and Saturday, and hopefully by Sunday I’ll be able to breathe through the initial bitter chill.
The rest of yesterday was spent catching up with friends, collecting my bike and gear and settling into the IM scene. Food highlights included an MJ Special sandwich for lunch (don’t question what’s in it, just get yourself over to the Raceday Cafe next time you’re at a North America Sports event, order one up and thank one of the best triathletes on the planet for having excellent, albeit unusual, taste), followed by dinner with my pal and long-time GU athlete Ben Schloegel. Ben races on the pro circuit, but maintains a full-time job as a firefighter in Kansas City, Missouri.
In this photo he’s showing me the other hat he wears. His truck is one of the busiest in the city, and it’s not uncommon in the days and nights prior to an Ironman race for him to be battling a burning building, saving lives, inhaling ungodly amounts of smoke and going totally sleep-deprived. I will keep this in mind next time I’m laying on the massage table or stressing about the need to stay off my feet.
More to come in the next few days from Race Central – but now I’m off to jump in the ice cream lake!