Am I Ready? Please Check My Logs

Logs look great. Remember it is a long day. There will be highs and lows and you need to just keep moving. The training is like  depositing money in the bank and on Nov. 23 you will be withdrawing all day long.

Keep your head up and press on til taper time, you'll do great!

Looks good to me.  The money is in the bank.  You paid your dues and put n the training.  You have done all you can do.  Now it's time to relax and have fun and enjoy the harvest as you reap the rewards of your hard training.  Don't allow the negative thoughts of DNF to steal your joy.  Revile in the fact that you made it to the starting line, healthy, trained and uninjurred.

I think the two biggest calming precepts that have help me imensly are these:

1.  It's just a race.  It's not like you're storning the beach at Normandy.

2.  The race is only as big as you make it in your mind.

I don't understand why people get this taper madness thing.

~Mike

Thanks for all your comments!  I did a 3 Hour Run on 10/05......and I was thinking about a 4 Hour Ride Sat. and another 3 Hour Run on Sunday....too much?

I feel you.  I'm three weeks out and feel the same way.

I try to rationalize it this way:  The plans you and I followed were created to work,  They are not just words or a useless schedule of workouts.  If you follow the plan, it should work.

Like you, I'm worried about nutrition AND the fact I have to combine all three events.  Each one on their own is no problem.  Back to back (to back)?  We'll see.

Did you practice your nutrition?  My last long run, I used exactly what I would on the course, and drank at exactly every mile, just like I would on race day.  Had the best run of my life.  I plan to do the same for my last long ride this weekend.

I know, easier said than done, but we both have to trust our training and plans.

Your training looks fine.  Relax. 

Take it easy on the swim and don't worry about anything else but your stroke.  If someone bangs or bumps you, just relax and keep swimming.

Hopefully you've practiced nutrition on your long rides.  Eat and drink regularly on the bike, but don't overdo it.  If you ever do ru nlow on fuel, you can always slow down and take more in.  If you 'clogged' the system by taking too much, it's a longer/more difficult problem to solve.  Feed and drink as you feel on the run.  Again, if you feel you've fallen behind in your nutrition, the next aid station is less than a mile away.

If you want to ride 4 hours on Sat, go for it.  DO NOT do a 3 hour run.  DO NOT do a 2 hour run.  90min, tops.  Your work is done.  Biggest mistake at this point would be to do too much, not too little.

FOLLOW THE PLAN!!!!

My last long run (last weekend) was 4 weeks out from the IM.  The last long swim and ride are this weekend (3 weeks out).  That makes sense as you need time to recover from them (longer for the run).

Two weeks out?  I would be thinking more half taper week then a taper week.  NOT adding in extra long runs or bikes.

Again.  FOLLOW THE PLAN!

Thanks so much guys.....for the mental part of the race, I plan to focus on my buddy who just completed The Bear 100 Run.......If can make it through that monster, whats a little IM race?

The nutrition has been an issue with me.....not getting the stuff down, but paying for it.  For most of my long workouts I have used just Gatorade.  I switched to Perpetulum about two weeks ago and will have 3 long rides with it.  No problems yet getting it down, and it is amazaing how much better I feel after riding. 

IM taper will send you to the loony bin for sure.  I am just starting my taper for IMFL and just waiting for the "crazy's".  Not saying you are crazy.  VERY VERY natural feeling to wonder if you did enough.  It appears from your log that your goal is to finish.  Having said that, your training will most certainly get you there and then some.  Some things to remember:

1.  It's a LONG day, always keep that in mind.

2.  Race within yourself the entire day.  It doesn't take very long of racing too hard to set up a very miserable day.  Especially watch this at the swim start.

3. Follow your nutritionally plan to the T (the one you have been training with), no time for experimenting.

4.Understand that there is alway something new that you hadn't planned for.  The trick it, how well you work through it.

As for the swim start, I doubt you will have to wait 10 minutes to let the madness stay in front of you, probably more like 2 or 3 minutes, so this may be a great strategy.

Best of Luck!

Nice tips everyone...

Every time I train, I can't help to invision myself on the course and crossing that finish line.  It just keeps popping into my head.  I KNOW there is going to be hundreds of times I will want to quit (I'm guessing during the run).  There is one point in particular that scares me, at Silverman you get to the finish chute at 13.1 miles, and they detour you around it.  You are within 20 of your family and your equipment, food, etc, but still have 13.1 to go.

Vineman,

That is very impressive.  How did you feel during the race and the next few days?

You have trained well, now enjoy your taper and get to the line ready to execute all you have practiced.

I worried about the swim too.

This is what I did that helped me feel much better about it. Look up last years results and see where I thought I would stack out.

You suggest waiting 10' for it to thin out after swim start...30 seconds is probably all you need if you start in the  back.

What I saw in looking at results about 30 folks the year before were as slow as I thought I'd be. Which doing the math meant in a two loop course I could get on bouy line and stay there pretty much from the start for both laps and wouldn't be with much traffic and the pros and not to many fast AGers would lap me at the end of my first loop. Just knowing mentally what the traffic would be like when I swam helped me relax before my IM as I knew I wouldn't be in the thick of things and I wasn't. I've done sprints that were much worse contact wise. My swim time was 1:48 which was about where I thought it would be.