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Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart
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 2015-06-18 10:45 AM |
 467   , Wisconsin |  Subject: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heartIf you want the short version, just skip to the end  Boy I felt like crap last week . . . two sore knees, right lower back ache/cramp that seemed to get worse as the week wore on. Tired and kind of cranky, lots of doubts . . . Last Sunday (the 14th) was the A race I'd worked toward for the last year. The 2014 race was my first in 26 years and got me very fired up and wanting to see how much improvement I could make with some hard work. Over the last year I consistently built training volume and quality. Read as much as I could and tried to apply the knowledge gained in those books, online research, and very often from this forum. I decided that I definitely had some room for improvement in all aspects of the race. I did one more Sprint Tri last year, pulled a groin muscle and couldn't run for about 3 months. Put more time into cycling and swimming which let that muscle heal. This spring I ran a couple 5ks and did a shorter Sprint Tri while down in Florida in April. My goals were overall improvement . . . I believed that taking 10 min or maybe even more off my overall time was possible if everything "clicked" on race day. Here I was in the week before feeling like I'd be lucky to be able to do it at all. Yet I knew from previous experience and hearing from others that it was not uncommon to feel poorly just before race day. So, here's the short version: Sunday morning I finished over 8 minutes faster than last year. Swimming time was about 2 min better, bike leg was 5 minutes better and run was 2 min better. The ONLY thing that kept me from handily beating that 10 min goal was my wet suit (but that's another story). So, if you feel like crap right before a race, don't sweat it too much, you might just be in for a pretty darn great day |
| 2015-06-18 10:49 AM in reply to: #5123357 |
| 27 | Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart Congrats on your race. Glad to see you post your story. I'm 4 weeks out from my race - an oly - that's I've been really training hard for and I've been feeling soooo slow lately. But hearing this makes me feel better and wanting to press on! |
| 2015-06-18 1:31 PM in reply to: MikeD1 |
Master 2759  Los Angeles, CA | Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart |
| 2015-06-18 5:20 PM in reply to: MikeD1 |
| Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart Taper PMS is a bear! You hurt in places you didn't know you had. Still everything works out great as you saw. Congrats! |
| 2015-06-19 9:45 AM in reply to: hilltackler |
| 98 , Idaho | Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart Great write up. Well done! |
| 2015-06-19 12:21 PM in reply to: hilltackler |
| 467 , Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart Thanks a lot everyone Hilltackler, you'll do great in your Oly! |
| 2015-06-19 12:24 PM in reply to: MikeD1 |
Expert 2355 Madison, Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart Originally posted by MikeD1 If you want the short version, just skip to the end Boy I felt like crap last week . . . two sore knees, right lower back ache/cramp that seemed to get worse as the week wore on. Tired and kind of cranky, lots of doubts . . . Last Sunday (the 14th) was the A race I'd worked toward for the last year. The 2014 race was my first in 26 years and got me very fired up and wanting to see how much improvement I could make with some hard work. Over the last year I consistently built training volume and quality. Read as much as I could and tried to apply the knowledge gained in those books, online research, and very often from this forum. I decided that I definitely had some room for improvement in all aspects of the race. I did one more Sprint Tri last year, pulled a groin muscle and couldn't run for about 3 months. Put more time into cycling and swimming which let that muscle heal. This spring I ran a couple 5ks and did a shorter Sprint Tri while down in Florida in April. My goals were overall improvement . . . I believed that taking 10 min or maybe even more off my overall time was possible if everything "clicked" on race day. Here I was in the week before feeling like I'd be lucky to be able to do it at all. Yet I knew from previous experience and hearing from others that it was not uncommon to feel poorly just before race day. So, here's the short version: Sunday morning I finished over 8 minutes faster than last year. Swimming time was about 2 min better, bike leg was 5 minutes better and run was 2 min better. The ONLY thing that kept me from handily beating that 10 min goal was my wet suit (but that's another story). So, if you feel like crap right before a race, don't sweat it too much, you might just be in for a pretty darn great day Pretty much spot on. The only real day you want to feel amazing is race day. If you feel great 2 weeks before or that weekend before, or the Wednesday before you might have peaked too early, etc. I have felt very sluggish the day before races before. But that is sometimes off travel, time zone change, heightened stimulation, etc, but I felt great on race day. Your from Wisco, which race did you do last Sunday? |
| 2015-06-22 9:22 AM in reply to: bcagle25 |
| 467 , Wisconsin | Subject: RE: Feeling crappy week before race . . . take heart Originally posted by bcagle25 Originally posted by MikeD1 If you want the short version, just skip to the end Boy I felt like crap last week . . . two sore knees, right lower back ache/cramp that seemed to get worse as the week wore on. Tired and kind of cranky, lots of doubts . . . Last Sunday (the 14th) was the A race I'd worked toward for the last year. The 2014 race was my first in 26 years and got me very fired up and wanting to see how much improvement I could make with some hard work. Over the last year I consistently built training volume and quality. Read as much as I could and tried to apply the knowledge gained in those books, online research, and very often from this forum. I decided that I definitely had some room for improvement in all aspects of the race. I did one more Sprint Tri last year, pulled a groin muscle and couldn't run for about 3 months. Put more time into cycling and swimming which let that muscle heal. This spring I ran a couple 5ks and did a shorter Sprint Tri while down in Florida in April. My goals were overall improvement . . . I believed that taking 10 min or maybe even more off my overall time was possible if everything "clicked" on race day. Here I was in the week before feeling like I'd be lucky to be able to do it at all. Yet I knew from previous experience and hearing from others that it was not uncommon to feel poorly just before race day. So, here's the short version: Sunday morning I finished over 8 minutes faster than last year. Swimming time was about 2 min better, bike leg was 5 minutes better and run was 2 min better. The ONLY thing that kept me from handily beating that 10 min goal was my wet suit (but that's another story). So, if you feel like crap right before a race, don't sweat it too much, you might just be in for a pretty darn great day Pretty much spot on. The only real day you want to feel amazing is race day. If you feel great 2 weeks before or that weekend before, or the Wednesday before you might have peaked too early, etc. I have felt very sluggish the day before races before. But that is sometimes off travel, time zone change, heightened stimulation, etc, but I felt great on race day. Your from Wisco, which race did you do last Sunday? Hi Ben, it was the Excel, Got Energy Triathlon sponsored by Excel and the Y. I think it's now been going yearly since 2001? |
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