Day 2 at IMLP 2006

Today was a productive day preparation wise. I went to the Gatorade swim and one full loop of the IMLP swim course (1.2M). The water temperature was very warm (76 degrees) and I was overheating in my full sleeve wetsuit. I felt like a boiled lobster. I wished I had taken my long john style suit with me and realized that perhaps I could still get it in time for the race. I called friend Larry, who was coming up later today and asked him if he wouldn’t mind stopping by my house to pick it up.

Unfortunately, my wife wasn’t home this morning so I had to further hope that my father-in-law was home and that he would be amenable to going to my house, looking for my wetsuit and giving it to Larry. Fortunately for me he was, so I am now expecting it sometime later today. Thank goodness because if I have to race and the weather and water are so warm with my long sleeve suit, I will feel like a boiled lobster by the time I exit the water.

After the swim, I took my bike for a spin on the run course. It was an uneventful ride and pleasant enough. The ride served as a good refresher of the run course and the hills I will face on it. I rode back into town and headed for Planet Placid Bicycles. I wanted to get the tubes changed on my Zipp 404’s to 80mm stem tubes so I didn’t have to rely on the valve extenders. The VE on my front wheel was leaking when I inflated the tire; making it impossible to know whether I had the proper inflation. I decided to just get rid of them and have peace of mind.

Once this was done, it was time for some relaxation. I headed to the Massage Tent for my scheduled appointment. I had the knots worked out of my legs and shoulders. The massage felt great and it was long overdue. I can’t remember the last time I had one. Since I was already in the athlete village, I went to race registration after the massage was over.

Later, I had lunch with my father and then took a nap in my room. My father hung out by the lake while I chilled out. He came up a couple of hours later and then we went out for dinner. By this time I received a call from Larry letting me know he finally made it into town. He met me by restaurant where we were having dinner, just as we were getting ready to leave. I was gratefully reunited with my wetsuit. Larry was with his family and we all walked over to the merchandise tent to check out the offerings. It was very easy not to buy something, since the prices were outrageous. We hung out for a little while longer, snapped a picture and then my dad and I went back to our room to watch the Yankee game.

While watching the game, we are both sitting in bed using our laptops. Never in a million years could I have ever predicted that one day I’d be on a trip alone with my father, much less showing him the finer points of using the Microsoft operating system while sitting in a bed in our underwear. It’s like a tragic comedy in that I am being tortured by him asking me dozens of the most basic computer questions.