The big race day is in a little over five and a half
days. Which means that yesterday – especially with the backdrop of live updates
from IM Mont-Tremblant – was filled with thoughts of “a week from now, I will
be jumping in the water/at mile 60 of the bike/running in the dark.”
It also means that every person I talk to asks me if I’m
getting excited for the race.
Not really.
What? Months and months of training later, and the race
that I signed up for nine months ago is finally here – and I’m not excited?
Nope. Not really. I’m not sure why, but I suspect there’s
no one reason. More like a combination
of several piece of bad news that came in last week, loads of residual fatigue
being shed during taper, and the sudden absence of the 4-8 hour weekend
workouts that I’d come to love (really). Eventually, all of this will resolve
itself, and I’ll be ready to race.
The race readiness probably won’t come too long before 7
am on Sunday, August 26, but that’s fine. I don't need it until then.
Monday: A 4500 meter swim in the morning, including many,
many threshold 100s.
Tuesday: Rest day.
Wednesday: A 6.07 mile run commute in the morning, with
20 minutes at “ironman pace.” Does that mean I should have been limping/walking
along at an 18:00/mile pace for race simulation purposes? Or was my 11-ish/mile
pace more reasonable? Discuss.
Thursday: After waking up at 5 am for a bike workout and
promptly hitting the ground when I tried to stand up, everything got a little
mixed up. Took the day off work, tried to sleep, drank some coconut water, and
eventually did a little over an hour of very easy spinning on the trainer when
I felt better in the afternoon. Followed it up with a not-so-energetic 4000
yard swim before going back to bed for the evening.
Friday: Rest day, but back at work and mostly functional.
Saturday: The last weekend brick workout before IM
Louisville included just over 33 miles of biking with Karen and Rachel,
followed by a 20 minute run. Rounded out the day with a 2-mile open water swim
practice in the evening.
Sunday: 6.1 mile “long” run to close out the last weekend
before race day.
You don't plan on doing an 8 hr brick next weekend? But seriously, you're going to do great. You won't hear me, but I'll be shouting at you through my computer screen. #rage
ReplyDeleteUm, I'm planning a 4:45 bike split and a 3:05 marathon, duh.
DeleteOddly enough, I think its pretty common to feel numb or unexcited. I was the same way....then scared shitless. Then excited. Then nervous. Then....well, you get the point. But regardless of how you feel now, you're gonna feel elated 5 minutes post finish....I CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU DO IT!!
ReplyDeleteIn general, whenever I've been approaching a life event that prompts everyone and their cat to ask me if I'm excited, I end up feeling kind of unexcited — just from the sheer fatigue of having to answer the question. ("I'm excited to not have to talk about whether I'm excited anymore, yeah.") That flat feeling has passed eventually, though, and I hope it does for you, too.
ReplyDelete"The first rule of Ironman training is that you don't talk about Ironman training."
DeleteI was so tired last week as well and took two rest days. At this point I am more scared than excited.
ReplyDeleteSo.....are you excited?
ReplyDeleteI hate you right now.
DeleteYou can do it!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a good way to conserve energy for the race. I try to tell as few people as possible (except for random strangers on-line) when I'm gearing up for a big event, and therefore I avoid the bombardment of "Are you excited?" questions.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read about it though.
Hahah I love the comment about running at "race pace." I've never ran a 11 min/mile but during IM CdA that was my pace at times (or slower). Practicing limping or hobbling is also recommended.
ReplyDeleteI've never done race pace training - I'm either way too fast or slow, mostly the latter! LOL! All the best this weekend!
ReplyDelete