Redemption Song

here is a little pre-race report for Pocono Mountain. So far it has been a bit of a cluster. Hoping tomorrow runs smoother. Although it is what i thought it would be so far because of the location and the 2 transitions. I made the right decision in getting a hotel room close to the race even though I don't live that far from the race. The traffic was pretty bad getting around today. It is a small country roads area that they are holding the race in and its not really setup to accomdate this level of traffic. While the area is pretty it is also still in the recovery process from the weather elements. And the current weather isn't real helping that effort. But while everything took me longer than it should have and there were a few screw ups along the way I think everything is now done and it is time to rest up before the race. packet pickup was a little hectic. it wasn't setup in a straight format so i was going in circles. I think I got everything I really needed. But i didn't take anytime to walk through the shopping. I checked my bike. which took so long I missed the athlete meeting but I heard that they are doing a tt start based on your bib number. if that is true I am number 592 so Ill be waiting a bit but not too long. I then went to try to catch at least some of the athlete meeting but i couldn't find anywhere to park so it just went to check my run gear. Again this took way longer than it should have. I threw sneakers, socks, race belt with number and a hat in my bag. most of this is stuff i dont normally use. but with the wet conditions I may need some of it. Then I saw people laying down transition mats so i put mine down and i saw a lot of people putting in dry shirts so i opened my packet and put in my new race shirt in case i want a dry change. i even threw some spare nutrition in there. we don't have access to those bags until we hit t2 tomorrow so i hope i have everthing i need. I really couldn't remember what i needed i am not used to having all of this stuff! the hotel i am staying in is close to the race and really nice. which i need after all of the confusion earlier. I did do some carb and electrolyte loading today. not really how most people would do it but it worked for me. I made banana cinnamon whole grain muffins this morning. I did a short bike workout. 10 minute warmup then 5 rounds of 30 seconds at race pace with 2 minutes of spinning in between followed by a 5 minute cooldown. I felt sore and tight when I got up this morning. But I felt ok on my bike. ended up loading on m muffins for breakfast and also as snacks throughout the day (not on purpose but all of the car time i was getting hungry and they were there, they are great for that kind of thing) and i had some vegan mac and cheese before I left the house. that was fun!  for my electrolyte loading i have been drinking coconut water today and i have to say it is working. I have been having to stop to pee a lot!  dehydration should not be an issue tomorrow. i am using gels and salt on the bike and soda on the run. The weather is supposed to be cold. 40-50s and wet. most of the heavy rain is supposed to fall tonight and it is supposed to ease up through the morning so when we start the bike it could still be raining but if they are right it should dry out for a few hours before heavy rain starts again in the evening. it would be nice not to race in the rain but i've trained in the rain and raced in the rain before so if it rains. it rains.  i packed all of my gear bags. I even set the alarm earlier than normal for tomorrow just because today was such a cluster i am concerned that tomorrow can also be more of the same and i would like to have some time to deal with that just in case. The bike course was already because of the road conditions. The could be wet and a little sketchy tomorrow.  Other than transition i don't remember anything on the run course that could be bad. just wet.