Ironman Wisconsin : Official Thread (Page 38)

Most tri tops have reflective material in them, very little but that is all that matters. My advice, don't worry about it we are mostly downtown Madison seeing and being seen won't be an issue.
Wi. temps this time of year are always interesting to say the least. I'm a little north of Madtown and we had 89 Monday and 59 Friday, today a balmy 62 on according to the bank outside my office window.

Well, I certainly hope so!  You still have my number, yes?

Shady oak road or whatever its called...The shady road just after midtown has been competely repaved. so now more meter wide stretches of open pavement and potholes.

That is nice news for me! I wasn't too crazy about the road conditions up there!

Of course! I land Thursday around 2. I'll send a text.

So here I am a week out still asking for input.  I have been fighting with a sore Achilles Tendon most of my training program since the volumes ramped up.  I have done all the requisite RICE and stretching to make it better.  It is not so bad that it throws my running gait, and it will kinda come and go during a run.  I suspect I have some micro-tears that just haven't had the opportunity to heal since I have been training through it.

My question is should I skip my last 3 runs(which is a total of 1:45 hours) and see if it heals some or stick to the last 3 runs and let it play out on the 12th?

Total rest is usually not required or more effective in the treatment of tendinitis and tendinosis (and associated microtears) of the Achilles tendon.  However, you should decrease milage (which is happening since you are tapering) and avoid hill work and interval training (even short 30'' intervals you may be doing during your taper).  My advice would be to err on the side of rest this week since most of us training for Ironman events err too often on the non-rest side of things.  You should know though that in one week your tendon will not be able to have any meaningful healing (you just don't want to damage it anymore), but rest will reduce the amount of inflammation before race day which could be beneficial.  If your tendon is tender, swollen, red, warm, ect I would take 400mg of Ibuprofen every 4-6 hours for the next few days and make sure to quit taking it two days before the race.  

In the end, you know your body best and there is no good reason to push through any pain one week before an Ironman. 

On a side note: many Achilles problems are caused by excessive pronation so you may want to check your shoes.

Disclaimer:
The above information is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Skip them. Three runs at this point don't contribute to fitness, they just keep you loose and keep your body used to the sport. My PF is acting up again and I'm done running until the race. At a minimum I don't want to be battling through pain and inflammation at the start before the real pain and inflammation set in!

My dedication is being put to the test. The fair is in town, so far I have resisted all things deep fried but it is not easy.

I'm also on the skip it wagon.  I too, am taking some runs off because of a nagging wound that won't heal.  It makes me nervous to take these off so close to the race, but we have to remember that we've been training for 8 months for this.  As someone said "at this point, you have enough hay in the barn."  I had a really easy taper before my 1/2 IM earlier this summer, and I PRd - hopefully the trend continues for the IM!

And as mentioned above, I agree with the fact that although it may not be enough time to heal, at least it won't be getting worse in the week before.

Have a relaxing next week and a GREAT race day!!

One Week!!!

Good luck everyone, stay healthy, and travel safe.  I will see y'all in Madison 

Officially under one week, less than 168 hours til the gun goes!

Here is the latest weather.com version

Today
Sep 5

It was interesting I checked this morning and Accuweather and Weather.com were actually agreeing on the high however weather.com has the low around 60 and Accuweather has the low around 47.  Just a little difference there.

Now that the weather is turning against my favor, I'm just going to say that 7 days out is too soon to be worrying about the weather. Unless the weather changes to great conditions again overnight.

Does anyone know if that hill right after Veterans Park in Verona (right after the highway underpass, as you begin the road to Mt Horeb) is paved? 4 weeks ago it was gravel; last weekend it looked harder, but did not have any asphalt.  I prefer asphalt

Then again, at this point, I can't do anything about it. Keep my head down and keep riding.  

Bleah.  The weather will be the same for everyone there and we have no power to change it.  I'm pretty sure at this point no matter what it's like it's going to hurt...  A lot.  Wife was prodding me yesterday asking if I was nervous.  Mostly I just feel resigned.  Kind of like I would feel before a long training day.  I've decided that I'm going to go and not push hard.  I've pushed hard at all the other races I've had this year.  If I feel good for the last half of the marathon,  I'll push that.  But not till then.  I want to enjoy this.

I agree - this is my first IM, and I don't want to blow up early.  I'd rather go nice & sloooow on the bike & the first half of the run, and if I'm feeling fine then, then give it hell.

Otherwise, I just want to experience the fun of this race - even if that means I don't finish as fast as "could have".  I hope this won't be my one & only 140.6, so this first experience will then help me go into the next one with a much better idea of what I'm really up against - I'll save setting a goal time for that next race. 

For 9/12/10 - just planning to stay relaxed, slow, and enjoy the day

Good words on general IM strategy here from good ol' JonnyO: link

Cheers, Chris

I can't take advice from someone who has such atrocious spelling skills. 

I just finished my 29th training week and realized ...  HOLY CRAP - it's race week!!!  Woo-hoo!  Well, okay, it doesn't start until tomorrow, but for all intents and purposes...IT'S RACE WEEK.

(Has anyone checked the weather?) 

Jonny-O link very good advice.   But I will never pee myself...  EVER.

I like the JonnyO advice for the most part, and love the this quote:  Maybe you hear this coach telling you to go out strong and fast so you can catch those super good set of feet that will bring you to a new personal best time. Well, hit that coach on the head for me!
Too many times I hear this.

Hydro - love your thoughts.