On an evening where Wimbledon records have been shattered by Nicolas Mahut and John Isner, and a day when Jermaine Defoe rescued England from the brink of disaster, it seems strange to be engulfed by 'bigger' things! Well for me, today was packing day...

At 07:45 Thurs 24^th June I shall board a BA flight to Nice, France contemplating that six months of hard work is about to reward itself with (I hope) a suitable climax. That is the completion of Ironman France. I last wrote about the attention to detail I have afforded myself, and in truth, I have been the same through the entire packing process; bike - check, helmet - check, shades - check, goggles - check - cliff bars - check... and the list goes on. So what has the last week got in store and how does my race plan come together?

Well, many have been amazed by my taper. My final week has so far included:

Mon - Morning swim (60 mins), afternoon run (intervals, 50 min)

Tues - Bike intervals (50 mins)

Wed - Morning swim (45 min)

Thurs - Unpack bike, 75 min spin, 25 min run

Fri - Off

Sat - 30 min sea swim, 30 min bike with race pace intervals, 25 min run

SUN - IRONMAN

If I told you that the amount of training highlighted feels like no training at all... you'd start to only just imagine what training for an Ironman is really like!

So what about my plan on the day... get up at 4:30 am (2 hrs before the start) and nibble on breakfast (cereal and toast). By 5:30am I expect to be in the bike park checking everything is ok and of course memorising by bike position. By 6:10am I'll be doing a quick swim warm up (10 mins) ready to start by 6:30 (3.8k swim). After the swim I'll hit the transition area making sure I have everything for the bike (although its already packed) and begin, nice steady pace there is still 112 miles to go. I will drink 750 ml sports drink (INFINIT) immediately and then settle on a plan of 750 ml of sports drinks every hour alongside either a gel or bar. Average calorie intake per hour is ~400 kcals. Towards the end of the bike focus more on the gels than the bars to remove myself from 'solids'. After I get back from the bike (probably 8 hours in!!!) I will begin the marathon, only 26.2 miles (4 x laps of the promenade). The plan is to drink regularly and use one gel every 45 mins. If I can run a steady pace, sub 4 hr marathon I'll take that right now...

It feels weird writing an article without a real story, more just a brain download, but in all honestly I think it best summarises how I feel - numb. I do wonder if this is because I'm more at ease than I thought I would be, but who knows. The reality of the situation is that tomorrow I arrive, tomorrow afternoon I register, by Sat everything is finalised and on Sunday all I have to do is race. I do somewhat wonder if the physical work is done and it's just the mental bit that will see me through to the end...

Wish me luck!

Nick