The week of Ironman Arizona: Day 4 (Saturday, 11-15-14)

We left P&K’s house today and would spend the next two nights at the Fairfield Inn. This would be known as Base Camp 2.

Today was swim practice day and also when everyone started dropping off their transition bags and racking their bikes. The Village would start humming and buzzing today.

We arrived around 8:30ish and got a feel for what was going on. If I remember correctly you could do the practice swim anywhere from 9:00AM-10:45AM. Athletes were required to wear their timing chip for this so that the event organizers could verify that the athlete that went IN the water and also came OUT of the water.

My husband was lined up and ready to go around 9:30AM. He hadn't planned on swimming very far or for very long.

This guy seemed out of place without a wetsuit!The water level was low and people were having some difficulties getting up on the stairs. In the photo above you can see the guy in the green cap trying to pull himself up. Look how high up his knee is. But in the picture below you can see where the athlete is actually boosting his butt up on the step first to get up. That was the better way to do it.I did not know that a snorkel was legal but found out that it is!

Yeah…you could say the water was a little dirty!

After the swim, we walked back to the car where he changed clothes and grabbed his transition bags. We then went and got the bike from TriBike Transport and he got in line to rack it. Photos are taken of all the bikes as they enter.

(Better shot with the 35MM camera.)

Back up on Mill Street bridge. It was interesting to see how everything was starting to fill up.

There really wasn’t anything else left for him to do. So we tried to hurry back to the hotel to catch the broadcast of the Triathlon World Championship in Kona. We missed about the first 20 minutes. Then it was just relaxing the rest of the day until we needed to find some place to eat.

Oddly, finding a place to eat for dinner was not as easy as we’d hoped it would be. We drove up and down University Drive and didn’t see anything. So we ended back up on Mill Street at the World of Beer restaurant/bar. Not really what either of us had in mind but he found something that sounded good. He wished he could have sampled a few but probably not the best thing to do the night before an Ironman. Sure, he’s knocked back 12 Mich Ultras the night before the half marathon in Vegas but that is like comparing apples to watermelons.

Back to the hotel and then it was my turn to get my “Special Needs” bag ready. I too needed to have everything I thought I would want/need for the day with me since the hotel wasn’t within walking distance.

Then it was lights out early. My alarm was set for 4:30AM.