6 sleeps to race day come on Fat Man and the Curly Girly!

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps"

We are now down to 6 sleeps til race day. I'm not nervous yet nor will I be until we have had the race briefing and photographs. Then it will be the case of finding my own corner to collect my thoughts, focus my mind and prepare my body for the on slaught that lies ahead. During this preparation I have come to realise I don't enjoy the long Distance races as much as the middle distance. I think it might be something to do with the way in which I prepare myself. I can race the middle distances at home and iron out any problems but when it comes to the longer races its all hit or miss and something I seem to be blase about......can I afford to be with the class of field I'm racing.

At the beginning of the season I talked with my coach about the magic numbers for this race. 1 3.5 and 2.5. As soon as I got injured the focus changed from running fast to be able to run. However now I feel that I am in a good place and able to compete well. Despite the injury I still think these are manageable and attainable but more realistically I would be happy to go under the goal I set 3 years ago in Canberra. This is how I rate my performance

Bronze <7.5
Silver <7.25
Gold <7

Can I get a medal winning performance or suffer another I turned up and almost did it? My motivation has to be the Beijing Olympics and the great efforts everyone put in to get the 47 medals. However looking at the times of 3 years ago when Scott Neyedli won and finished 2nd overall I have to ask myself will I be able to emulate him one day. Not by winning Ironman UK but by being a top class professional Long Course athlete. Just for the record his Almere and my Canberra
06:01:54 Overal 08:33:40
00:52:25 4k Swim 01:09:40
03:13:49 120 K Bike 04:12:10
01:52:09 30k Run 03:11:49