Ironman Arizona : Official Thread (Page 49)

I'm having trouble deciding what to wear as well.  I definitely want to wear a cycling jersey on the ride as in the past my back and upper shoulders have gotten a little fried.  And I like the idea of wearing the jersey on the run as it gives me more sun protection than a tri top, plus I get pockets and a zippered front for staying cool or warming up.  I think I want to wear my tri shorts for the ride as they're most comfortable and I'd like to run in them as well but they may be kinda gross by then.  Run shorts would be ok but the extra compression would be nice.  I wore compression socks exclusively last year but not so much this year. 

I didn't know there was a thread for this! 

This will also be my first IM like most of us.  I've been running a lot and swimming minimally.  I have been hitting 40-50 miles running with 10-11 total hours of saddle time.  I hit 20 hours too but I hovered around 15-18 this past 7 weeks. 

I say let's get it done and over with.  I'm done with this long hours of training...

Ah..the taper anxiety diaries!!!

Re: comments as I reflect on my experience last year

Nutrition..maintain but do not overdo as you are finishing up the bike or you will suffer on the run.

Clothing: the water is COLD..be prepared for that!

You most

likely will start out chilly on the bike- I wore ear warmers & arm warmers for the 1st loop..after that tri top & shorts were fine.

re:compression sox..I did not wear then on the bike-put them on for the run..if I had it to do over I would either wear all day or not at all- was really challenging putting them on in transition!!!Maybe sleeves would-be a better choice.That said my legs held out & I do think the sox were helpful.

Its either in the bank or not at this stage.go with what you have been successful with on your long bricks.

getting to the startling is more than half the battle!!

Visualize your success, relax , be careful the next few weeks..and enjoy the experience!!!!

I can't say I know what your training has been like, but losing motivation is one early sign of overtraining....which is just about perfect that it's happening now since you should be starting your taper.  If you've done the work until now, you'll start to feel better with the reduced volume and should feel amazing, motivated, and full of energy by race day.

I'm wearing my 2 piece tri suit under my wetsuit and call it a day.  I want to keep it simple, only thing I am thinking over are the arm warmers, I bought some but never used them bc it hasnt been that cold to need them, but as another persosn said I may just use some old soccer socks and discard them appropriatly when no longer needed.....but may just go without.

I think it's typical.  Most people just want to "get on with it" and race by now.

I motivate myself by saying "this is the LAST long ride" or LAST long run.

For example, on Sat, when I needed 6 hours, I just didn't want to go.  But said "6 hours from now, and I will be done with long rides!"  I got to the turn around and though that all I wanted to do is be on the couch and said "in 3 hours, I will be on that couch with the relief I don't have any more long rides to do".

So small accomplishments like that get me motivated enough along the way.

BTW  similar to this ^^^^^^^^^

Some of the BEST advice I have gotten was from Dave Scott.  He said break the race into small managable pieces/goals as well.  As small of sections as needed.

Don't concentrate so much on the finish if you are floundering.  Just think about getting out of the water, or to the SN area on the bike.  Or even just to the next aid station or over the next hill...

Hell, in IMSG, I was suffering enough I had to just "make it to the next traffic cone" wich where set about 50 yards apart...

Agreed...I had to do a 3 hour long run on Sunday.  due to the storm I had to do it on the treadmill....the worst, but after 1 mile I was ready to pack it in and told myself that I did enough let the taper begin, but than decided that I should at least do 3 miles, once I got to 3 miles I said im half way to 6 miles I will stop there.....but once I hit 6 I said 3 more miles, and just kept saying that until the 3 hours were up....Wasn't my greatest run but it was HUGE workout on the mental side....

I will totally disagree on the booties.  For me they feel like they drag me down and are not comfortable at all.  If you are thinking about wearing them then practice with them on.  I just wore a squid lid and full wetsuit for CDA this year (54) and was perfectly warm after about 10 minutes.

This is my 4th IM and i've done it all in terms of what to wear.  What i've found works best for me is the following:

Swim: Tri shorts, calf compression and no shirt under.

Bike: Same shorts, but change into a bike jersey to help hold my food for the bike.

Run: Same shorts, but change to a tri top with hat etc.

One piece of advice for T1....If the water is fairly cold, which seems likely, you fingers have a hard time working after the swim.  So if you do wear socks on the bike, i would suggest not wearing your tightest or newest pair as it can be very tough to get them on with wet feet and cold fingers.  I also put a small hand towel in my T1 bag to dry my feet.  Also a full zipping jersey saves a lot of time.  Trying to put on a 1/2 zip jersey with a wet back can cause serious problems and it's pretty tough to get on.  Anyway thats a few tips i've learned through my past 3 ironman races.

I could have written your post last week!  I had a rough mental week last week.  Just wanted to give up, throw in the towel - starting feeling sick, undertrained, etc.  Took a day off, pulled up my big girl pants, and got to it.  Now, I'm feeling better, and stronger.  Still scared to death at the magnitude of what I've agreed to do, but I've put the work in (and so have you, I'm assuming!), and we are all going to do great! I have been reading through these posts as well, just to help keep my head on straight.  It's a big thing we are doing - but we've already done the hardest work!  

All I can say is LAST YEAR, I changed outside the tent because it was warm enough, did not put on the arm warmers, and was dry in minutes.

The year before when I volunteered, it was raining and hail and windy...

Blue seventy.

+1. I bought a pair for Boise 70.3 (57 degrees) and I didn't find that they slowed me down too much, but they do create a little bit of drag. I'll be doing a 3k/5k splash & dash in the lake the week before and will likely make my final decision after that. Neoprene cap will also be considered...

I plan on wearing what I train in...2-piece tri suit, compression socks under my wetsuit; will roll on arm warmers and put on my head sweats skull cap for the bike and ditch them in my SN bag and then I'll pop on my hat for the run. I may wear the arm warmers the whole time depending on the temps, but it's been pretty warm here lately.

another vote for blue seventy

I am coming from the RGV (why oh why did i move here?!).  we are super hot, fairly humid.  because i am not acclimated to the cold of even high 70s (it's 91 today and i'm 137lb at 5'9"), i suffered.  post swim, i could not work hands at all but could not leave the wet bra on holding the cold against my skin -- a volunteer literally took the wet bra off and put a dry one on for me, put on my bike jersey, but found it nearly impossible to put the arm warmers on as well as socks.  they got it, but my transition was 20 minutes.  i also could not feel my feet and they didn't warm up until 10 miles into the ride.  i wore the same shorts for the entire race.  kept me cold for the first 10 miles as well, but they did dry. 

I wore a Blue Seventy neoprene cap for Alcatraz this year, water was about 55ish, and was plenty warm.  I don't think I'm wearing it for Arizona, I'll probably wear two swim caps and call it good.

Thanks...

Never have used a neoprene cap, but then again I only have done 1 62 degree swim... Using two caps would be similiar to a neoprene?