Race Week Thoughts

Well Race week has arrived. We leave Thursday after work for Ironman Coeur D'alene. I'm not entirely sure where the last 6 months have gone, looking back it all seems to be a blur. My exam feels as through it was a decade ago and yet it was only 2 weeks. The past 2 weeks my training volume has petered out to nearly nothing. Some yoga, walking, and this past weekend super light biking and swimming. My foot has been bothering me since the marathon, and after finally mentioning it to my chiro it turns out I have a bit of plantar fasciitis. So I have been steering clear of running and stretching it in hopes that it doesn't bother me come race day. My body has also needed some serious time to rest and recharge before the race. I have been pushing it both physically and mentally for the last 6 months, and I just needed a break. Our weekend in Kananaskis definitely helped with that. This past weekend was a lot of preparing and last minute errands. We had to get our camping stuff all together to hand off to my dad so that he can bring it down to Coeur D'alene for us. It's moments like these where we wish we had a truck or an SUV... or in Ben's dreams a Delica. Our camping stuff, Triathlon Stuff, and everything for Rudy just can't quite squeeeze in to our Mazda 3. So after the race we'll trade off our triathlon stuff for our camping stuff and head out on a much needed relaxing by the lake camping vacation.

I am starting to get nervous about the race. I've been googling every race report that I can find from last year; Praying the weather is nice; Second guessing the hours of training that I've logged on my indoor trainer... you know the normal triathlete stuff. The problem with an early season race when you live in Canada is that you just don't have the weather to get the road under your tires much, which I think is adding to the second guessing. I have only had one long bike outside, the rest have been inside on my trainer. Then I found this checklist from 220triathlon.com and it took my mind off of IRONMAN, the enormity of it all, and made me think more about the individual things that I can control. I printed one off for Ben and I encourage any long distance triathlete to fill it out. It breaks everything down, and encourages you think about stuff before hand that you might not have thought about, at least I definitely didn't think about before my last race. Often as athletes we train our bodies so hard but without a plan for the day your entire race could be side tracked. This checklist gets you thinking about everything from why you're doing this (because you'll need a reason come kilometer 160 on the bike when your legs are aching), to what you'll do if things go sideways, and what you'll eat that morning. I also found this , an article about race day and the mental game involved by endurance nation. This article is amazing for any long distance triathlete, with super important tips for each disciplines of the race. This article helped me wrap my head around the fact that at this point it isn't about fitness, I'll have that from my 6 months of training, now it is just about the details of the day. How you execute may make or break your race. As they put it in the article "All you've done for nine months is build a vehicle. Ironman racing is about how you drive that vehicle, not about the vehicle itself."

My goals for the day? Well the rough goals for each of the disciplies is as follows:
Swim 1 hour 30 minutes
Bike 6 hours 30 minutes
Run 5 hours
Plus transition time would lead to a 13 hour and change race.

However, you never really know how the race is going to go. I have never seen the bike nor the run course and from the reviews last year they both have some pretty significant hills, unlike Ironman Canada which had alot of major hills on the bike but a very flat run course. Also the weather may throw some curveballs our way, super hot, cold, or windy can all impact how the day goes.

My back up goal is just a Sub-14 hour race, or even just beating my previous time.. but at the end of the day as long as I get to do this again, it makes all those months of training worth it. And I'll just train harder for the next one! For now I'll just take a deep breath and remember that "I can do all things through him who strengthens me".... and also of course thanks to Kelly " what doens't kill you makes you stronger." Because isn't that why we do these races, to test ourselves to the brink and come out victorious?