Sleeping in IM morning

Biggest fear EVER! I set like 4 alarms before a race.  I had nightmares last night before Alcatraz that involved oversleeping and getting to the start late so I had missed the bus and had to run to the start.

One of these days it's going to happen...less likely if you go to a race with a group!

Doubtful! I set every alarm I could and none of them were needed.  

Long rides are terrible for thinking about anything and everything.  I used to talk to cows and horses hoping that they would moo, "looking good!

Same here!

Coming up to my first tri I had nightmares for the last two weeks about everything going wrong, several times this included oversleep and missing the start or missing the whole race. This made me extra edgy the night before and I was waking up every 30-45 minutes. The amount of adrenalin in your system before a big race is insane, I guarantee you won't be having an overly restful sleep

My first IM (which may or may not go ahead with but that's another thread!) - is in 16 days time.  Last night was the first IM dream.

I was just doing the swim (which is likely!)

The ocean chopped up - also likely...I forgot to pick up the bag, I had no swim cap.  I had no race number.

I then decided I would do the bike leg, but had no water no nutrition or anything on my bike.

Woke up. 

Dont believe it will ever happen.  Tossing and turning yes.. but sleeping in no.  One thing that really helps with making sure you get the best sleep you can is having written a race plan (I'm not usually a write it down kind of person, but our coach encouraged us to write a race plan at least two weeks out, and read it over and over again.  It really helps.  You have every thing written down that  you need to think about, what you are going to eat, what you are going to focus on.  Tthen all you have to do is relax. 

It really worked.  My biggest struggle was eating on race morning as I just felt sick with nerves, but once at the waters edge they were gone and then on with the event and sticking to the plan and only sticking to the plan.

Oh and just to add, for added comfort, do set two alarms, especially if not at home.  

I have overslept a sprint once.  The A/C went out in our house in August the night before a race.  Friend offered up her townhouse for the night.  Set the alarm next to the bed and off to sleep we went (was a 7am race time so alarms were set very early).  Was pretty stressed that day since we knew our A/C basically blew up and we were looking at a $5000 bill in the coming days.  Woke up about 6:30am and realized that the clock had the AM/PM screwed up, even though I had the alarm set for the right time.  Both of us missed our race  and flushed $120 down the crapper (wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things but still wasted money).

I always set 2-3 alarms now (I have had an iphone die prematurely from not having a good signal in the hotel).  I set the hotel alarm, my timex watch and my iphone which is plugged in).