While this is a bit early for the Ironman Madison Folks, I wanted to get this up here for the Ironman Louisvile Folks as well. Some of you may have read it on the IMWI Training Secrets Page, but here it is for all to read for inspiration and motivation...Go! CARE! Go! So without further adieu, to those of you heading to Ironman - to the IM-Virgins, the veterans, and everyone in-between... Right now youve all entered the taper. Perhaps youve been at this a few months, perhaps youve been at this a few years. For some of you this is your first IM, for others, a long-overdue welcome back to a race that few can match. Youve been following your schedule to the letter. Youve been piling on the mileage, piling up the laundry, and getting a set of tan lines that will take until November to erase. Long rides were followed by long runs, which both were preceded by long swims, all of which were followed by recovery naps that were longer than you slept for any given night during college. You ran in the snow. You rode in the rain. You ran in the heat. You ran in the cold. You went out when others stayed home. You rode the trainer when others pulled the covers over their heads. You have survived the Darwinian progression that is an Ironman summer, and now the hardest days are behind you. Like a climber in the Tour de France coming over the summit of the penultimate climb on an alpine stage, youve already covered so much ground...theres just one more climb to go. You shift up, you take a drink, you zip up the jersey; the descent lays before you...and it will be a fast one. Time that used to be filled with never-ending work will now be filling with silent muscles, taking their final, well-earned rest. While this taper is something your body desperately needs, Your mind, cast off to the background for so very long, will start to speak to you. It wont be pretty. It will bring up thoughts of doubt, pain, hunger, thirst, failure, and loss. It will give you reasons why you arent ready. It will try and make one last stand to stop you, because your brain doesnt know what the body already does. Your body knows the truth: You are ready. Your brain wont believe it. It will use the taper to convince you that this is foolish - that there is too much that can go wrong. You are ready. Finishing an Ironman is never an accident. Its the result of dedication, focus, hard work, and belief that all the long runs in January, long rides in April, and long swims every damn weekend will be worth it. It comes from getting on the bike, day in, day out. It comes from long, solo runs. From that first long run where you wondered, How will I ever be ready? to the last long run where you smiled to yourself with one mile to go...knowing that youd found the answer. It is worth it. Now that youre at the taper, you know it will be worth it. The workload becomes less. The body winds up and prepares, and you just need to quiet your worried mind. Not easy, but you can do it. You are ready. You will walk into the water with 2000 other wide-open sets of eyes. You will look upon the sea of humanity, and know that you belong. Youll feel the chill of the water crawl into your wetsuit, and shiver like everyone else, but smile because the day you have waited for so VERY long is finally here. You will tear up in your goggles. Everyone does. The helicopters will roar overhead. The splashing will surround you. Youll stop thinking about Ironman, because youre now racing one. The swim will be long - its long for everyone, but youll make it. Youll watch as the shoreline grows and grows, and soon youll hear the end. Youll come up the beach and head for the wetsuit strippers. Three people will get that sucker off before you know whats happening, then youll head for the bike. The voices, the cowbells, and the curb-to-curb chalk giving you a heros sendoff. You wont wipe the smile off your face for. Youll settle down to your race. The crowds will spread out on the road. Youll soon be on your bike, eating your food on your schedule, controlling your Ironman. Youll start to feel that morning sun turn to afternoon sun. Its warmer now. Maybe its hot. Maybe youre not feeling so good now. Youll keep riding. Youll keep drinking. Youll keep moving. After all, this is just a long training day with valet parking and catering, right? Youll put on your game face, fighting the urge to feel down as you ride for what seems like hours. You reach special needs, fuel up, and head out. By now itll be hot. Youll be tired. Doubts will fight for your focus. Everyone struggles here. Youve been on that bike for a few hours, and stopping would be nice, but you wont - not here. Not today. Youll grind the false flats to the climb. Youll know youre almost there. Youll fight for every inch of road. The crowd will come back to you here Let their energy push you. Let them see your eyes. Smile when they cheer for you - your body will get just that little bit lighter. Grind. Fight. Suffer. Persevere. Youll plunge down the road, swooping from corner to corner, chaining together the turns, tucking on the straights, letting your legs recover for the run to come - soon! Youll roll back - youll see people running out. Youll think to yourself, Wasnt I just here? The noise will grow. The chalk dust will hang in the air - youre back, with only 26.2 miles to go. Youll relax a little bit, knowing that even if you get a flat tire or something breaks here, you can run the damn bike into T2. Youll roll into transition. 100 volunteers will fight for your bike. Youll give it up and not look back. Youll have your bag handed to you, and into the tent youll go. Youll change. Youll load up your pockets, and open the door to the last long run of your Ironman summer - the one that counts. Youll take that first step of a thousand...and youll smile. Youll know that the bike wont let you down now - the race is down to your own two feet. The same crowd that cheered for you in the shadows of the morning will cheer for you in the brilliant sunshine of a summer Sunday. High-five people on the way out. Smile. Enjoy it. This is what youve worked for all year long. That first mile will feel great. So will the second. By mile 3, you probably wont feel so good. Thats okay. You knew it couldnt all be that easy. Youll settle down just like you did on the bike, and get down to your pace. Youll see the leaders coming back the other way. Some will look great - some wont. You might feel great, you might not. No matter how you feel, dont panic - this is the part of the day where whatever youre feeling, you can be sure it wont last. Youll keep moving. Youll keep drinking. Youll keep eating. Maybe youll be right on plan - maybe you wont. If youre ahead of schedule, dont worry - believe. If youre behind, dont panic - roll with it. Everyone comes up with a brilliant race plan for Ironman, and then everyone has to deal with the reality that planning for something like Ironman is like trying to land a man on the moon. By remote control. Blindfolded. How you react to the changes in your plan will dictate your day. Dont waste energy worrying about things - just do what you have to when you have to, and keep moving. Keep eating. Keep drinking. Just dont sit down - dont EVER sit down. Youll make it to halfway point. Youll load up on special needs. Some of what you packed will look good, some wont. Eat what looks good, toss the rest. Keep moving. Start looking for people you know. Cheer for people you dont. Youre headed in - theyre not. They want to be where you are, just like you wanted to be when you saw all those fast people headed into town. Share some energy - youll get it right back. Run if you can. Walk if you have to. Just keep moving. The miles will drag on. The brilliant sunshine will yawn. Youll be coming up to those aid stations fully alive with people, music, and chicken soup. TAKE THE SOUP. Keep moving. Youll soon only have a few miles to go. Youll start to believe that youre going to make it. Youll start to imagine how good its going to feel when you get there. Let those feelings drive you on. When your legs just dont want to move anymore, think about what its going to be like when someone catches you...puts a medal over your head... ....all you have to do is get there. Youll start to hear town. People you cant see in the twilight will cheer for you. Theyll call out your name. Smile and thank them. They were there when you left on the bike, and when you came back, when you left on the run, and now when youve come back. Youll enter town. Youll start to realize that the day is almost over. Youll be exhausted, wiped out, barely able to run a 10-minute mile (if youre lucky), but youll ask yourself, Where did the whole day go? Youll be standing on the edge of two feelings - the desire to finally stop, and the desire to take these last moments and make them last as long as possible. Youll hit mile 25. Your Ironman will have 1.2 miles - just 2KM left in it. Youll run. Youll find your legs. Youll fly. You wont know how, but you will run. The lights will grow brighter, brighter, and brighter. Soon youll be able to hear the music again. This time, itll be for keeps. Soon theyll see you. Soon, everyone will see you. Youll run towards the lights, between the fences, and into the night sun made just for you. Theyll say your name. Youll keep running. Nothing will hurt. The moment will be yours - for one moment, the entire world will be looking at you and only you. Youll break the tape. The flash will go off. Youll stop. Youll finally stop. Your legs will wobble their last, and suddenly...be capable of nothing more. Someone will catch you. Youll lean into them. It will suddenly hit you. You will be an Ironman. You are ready.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 21:47:43 +0000
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