Almost done with one year of training

I can't believe race day is just over 3 weeks away. It seems like 3 weeks would be a lot, but that's going to go by so fast. The whole year has gone by so fast. I'm putting the final touches on my training now. Did an easy paced 15 mile run today pretty effortlessly and have been having swim practice everyday in Hartford. Cycling, I'm just ready, plain and simple. This is not a joke or anything, but I woke up at 11 AM on Sunday morning, and got bored almost immediately. I decided to head out on my bike for a fast paced 30 mile ride, and already had a route planned. Well that 30 mile ride turned into a 120 mile ride around Connecticut. Did that in 6 hours and 30 minutes. Total peace of mind. I could get a flat on the course in Louisville and still be able to finish under 6:30, which leads me into my next topic, race day strategy.
I will try and just enjoy the swim, and not kill myself. Anything under 1 hour 30 minutes will be fine with me. My coach wants me to go 1:05, but I seriously highly doubt that. On the bike, I'm "not going to eat the paste." That's an Ironman saying for the kid in preschool that eats the paste in the corner of the room and then other kids follow him or her. Then they puke a half hour later. Well the same thing happens during an Ironman, some people "eat the paste" and hammer the bike, and set a personal record, with times like 5:45 off the bike, averaging almost 20 mph. Then they realize they have a marathon to run. Then the puking starts. Then the ambulance picks them up. And for the ones that aren't on their way to the hospital, I run by them at mile 10 while they're walking at a 20 minute pace and I'm running at a 10 minute pace. Do the math....for them to beat me by 45 minutes off the bike, I make up a total of 100-300 minutes on them on the marathon. I'm not using this strategy to beat these people at all, I'm using this strategy to stay in the race. I predict my finish time to be well within my goal of 13 hours if I do this.

On another note, I have a teammate that just did Ironman Lake Placid, and we've been talking about what it's going to be like to be an Ironman throughout the year. This was his first. This is him on the JumboTron getting a little emotional after he crossed the finish line.

I want to give him a shout out and say that "Doug - You're an Ironman." Be proud my friend, you put in so much work and I'm glad to call you my teammate. Please take a minute to read his blog and his race report: http://jackandrachelland.pbwiki.com/IMLP%20report