SWBKRUN MENTOR GROUP - OPEN (Page 29)

It's Hump Day, Wednesday, the Middle of the Week.............Who's gearing up for a race this weekend? 

I've been thinking about our racers that are preparing for the Ironman (love Nadine's recent post).  What a journey they have undertaken and how sweet the end of that journey will be.  No matter what happens, it will be the adventure of a lifetime.  Even if it's not an Ironman, every race presents its challenges and triumphs.  So, here's my question.....finally..... 

The training is in the bank and the body is ready, but what do you do in the final weeks/days/hours before the race to get in the right mindset to complete the challenge?

Have a great day Nadine, I'd love to do IM Canada!

I hope you have a terrific race!!! Always exciting to track someone from the MG!

With only 1-2 weeks left before IM, I move from the physical to the mental part of the race.  For me that means different things:

1.  I make sure all the little details are completed so I don't worry about them--bike tune up, race kit identified and tried out at least once,  list for special needs, etc.

2. I read my favorite passages from books, spend time visualizing the entire day many, many times including how I am going to handle any unforeseen circumstances (God knows I've had my share of those).

3.  I isolate myself from all things IM  other than to register, drop off my bike and SN bags.  Kim can attest to this one.  Spending too much time around a load of nervous peolpe messes with my head.

4.  I remind myself why I am doing the race which helps me finish NO MATTER WHAT!  Very important to have a reason when the little voice says "why the he$$ am I doing this?  I shouldn't be here.  I can just walk....." and on it goes"

I will be starting this phase of my training on Sunday right after my last 2.4m swim in Lake Monona (course I will be spending a great deal of time visualizing success here too!).

Good luck, Nadine!  Will be tracking you!!!

Mike, I've been using that stuff since the beginning, love the o2 Gold and recovery stuff.  Expensive, though.

Y'all may have heard of the Rim fire (one of many, I know) that's raging by Yosemite.  I was up there earlier this week to do some training (yeah, swim in the lake!) and some maintenance on the house my parents left me and my siblings......and was evacuated last night.  Very scary.  I brought home all the pictures, my Dad's flag, and everything else that looked like I couldn't replace it.  Tough calls.  Helped a neighbor load up her stuff - her husband is a sheriff and was doing evacuations.....found another neighbor's cat under our deck, and then high-tailed it out.

Hard to just sit and wait to hear what's happening - the info is just devastating.  Sending prayers out to those that are losing their homes, and to the firefighters that are fighting to save them, and the Stanislaus Forest.

Puts stuff into perspective.

AND my computer crashed......just got a new one, and can't make my Garmin work yet.  DANG.

First world problems......

No racing here (next weekend for me).   Suzy's advice sounds good.  She is much more organized than I usually am and I think I will have to try to do things a little differently for my upcoming HIM.

Best of luck to you Nadine!!!  Easy, easy on the swim.  Start at the back and do your best to stay out of the people piles.

Suzy: you mentioned Kim.  Is she okay?  We have not heard from her since the middle of July or so.

Dan and all--Kim is fine.  I know she is super busy with work and family stuff and is deep into CrossFit these days.

Had a really good double brick workout today.  Doing the full IM swim on the course tomorrow.  Fingers crossed, they are calling for 25mph winds.  I hope not!

Thanks Suzy - glad to hear she is doing well.

Congrats on that double brick and good luck with the swim!!

well my Oly did not go as planned. The swim got me. 550 up stream to a 100yds before down stream. I swam the first 550 really well or so I thought got passed the 650 buoy, Made it to the next buoy and then something happened and I could not catch my breath or concentrate on the task at hand. Keep swimming. I tried fighting it off my my body was saying you got this and my mind was not having any part of it. This is the first time this has happened since I have been doing training or tris. Now all I can do is sit here and think you were about half way, why couldn't you do the other 700-800 yrds. This was suppose to be a guage race but nope didn't happen.

I thought the conditions were not bad some wave and water a little choppy but weather was perfect. The first Oly I did was way worse conditions and I managed not to give up. I am beyond puzzled.

I have a sprint in 2 weeks but augusta is 4 weeks away. I am really going to need to get my confidence up before then.

Don't worry about it Mike, sounds like a minor freak-out, lots of people get one at some point. When I did my surf lifesaver training we had to swim out through the surf in pretty stormy conditions every Sunday morning, one of my friends had to rescued after freaking out on both of the first 2 weekends but she stuck with it and passed. She was a fitness instructor so fitness wasn't the issue.

I like to keep my breathing relaxed or at worst steady even in races. I don't buy into the advice in magazines about going out hard and then easing into a more relaxed pace. Once you get breathless or panicked either stop and breath normally until you feel good again or just cruise along and get back into your happy zone!

Thanks Trevor.

GO NADINE!!!

Of COURSE it was you Trevor - you're closest!!!

Go, Nadine, GO!!!

Almost there!!!  VERY consistent run splits!!! I'm calling a 16:20 finish.  AWESOME JOB!!!   I'll check back in to see how close I was to congratulate you in the morning!!

You're almost an Ironman as we speak!!!

And our Nadine is a runner - with quite a kick at the end!!

Congrats, Nadine, you ARE an IRONMAN!!!

16:26 - plenty of time to spare!!!

Go put those legs up, have a celebratory beverage, and sleep well!!!

~Linda

Great job Nadine!!!!  We want some details when you're up and about!

PS.  Good job Trev.