Saturday will be my second attempt at Ironman Muncie and with 6 days left, I thought I’d put the top 6 things in my mind on the page. Make sure to follow the Crushing Iron Facebook group so you don’t miss any of these powerful updates.
1. Patience – Muncie can’t seem to get here fast enough, but I need to chill and recover. I’m not sure how others feel during race week, but I will periodically drift off and “be” in the race. I can feel the sand on my toes and see the guys in my wave standing next to me before the gun. I’m sure it helps on some level, but my goal for the week is to try and not think about it as much as possible. Good luck with that.
2. Early Wave – Most of my races to this point had me starting in a late wave. Muncie has me going off first around 7:10. This is not my comfort zone for two reasons:
– I’m not an early morning person for one. I’m already sweating my pre-race sleep and just hope I’m fresh that morning. I’ve been known to race on 3 hours sleep and that is not a good strategy.
– I will likely be getting passed more than passing and that is a different mindset. I have to remember to let it peak my performance, but not distract me from my pace goals.
3. Swim – Many prescribe using the swim as the “warm up” for the race and I tend to fall into that category. It’s important that I don’t go out too hard and lose my breath. The heart-beat-trade-off affects your swim time much less than the bike and run, so I can’t get caught up in trying to crush the first 30-something minutes of the race.
4. Bike – This is a fast bike course, so I’m trying to mentally commit to starting under control, but not so slow that it will be hard to get my average pace up. It’s a fine line on the bike and I don’t use a power meter, so I’ll be listening to my legs, but sometimes they lie and you have to wake them up. I won’t ride much this week, but I will definitely be reminding my legs how it feels to go fast (in short doses).
5. Run – Yesterday was my last longish run and I can honestly say this is the best I’ve felt about my run going into any triathlon. The ONLY goal I have this week regarding the run is to make sure my legs, knees, and ankles are not sore. I think they are trained up pretty good, so I’m ready to see what they have on race day.
6. Rest – It’s incredible to me how a few days away from swimming, biking, or running make you think you have totally forgot how to do these things! I seriously think I’ve completely lost it, only to “remember” once I start moving. The goal is not to forget and not be a total lazy ass.
* I’m about 10 likes from 500 on the Crushing Iron Facebook page, so if you’re not one of them, it’d be cool if you helped get me over the hump.
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