I know nothing about the reasons why you s/b/r.
If it's to be the fastest possible version of you, then the right choice, imho is the hard one. To write off the whole year and this race with all the time and money as sunk cost. Concentrate on how to prevent this from happening next year.

Yes, I race to be the best me I can. I guess I'm hoping somebody will say, "Yeah that happened to me and I did amazing stop worrying and race".

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

You are going to have a bad race given the last month of training.

If you can accept that and go out and enjoy some swim/bike/run, then go for it. If you want to PR, Kona qualify, etc. you are just setting yourself up for disaster.

I'd probably give it a go, but dial everything back a few notches to postpone the inevitable implosion. If you want to pull the plug at T2, you've got that as an option

Just do the race for fun. You have more than enough base to do it w/o doing the IM shuffle if you pace yourself.

Hey, it's IMFL so you can do 5hrs on the bike at 100W in one of the packs.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I forgot about this option.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

YES!! The hay is in the BARN!!! Go race and have fun!!! You peaked out with all the right volume!!!! Obviously you're not going to win the thing, but you can compete at close to the level you were hoping for.

My race was October 13 and was diagnosed with pneumonia September 16 and put on bed rest. The doctor was like, "I can't believe you are even walking around let alone out training..." She gave me antibiotics and went back 4 days later and said my body is fighting it off as good as she's ever seen. She gave me the green light to ease back to normal routine once I finished the antibiotics. I took a total of 2 weeks off, then continued where I would have been with my taper.

Race day was AWESOME!!!! And yours will be TOO!!!!

Go get it and good luck!!!

PS-obviously I had to recalibrate my zones to wear my fitness was with pneumonia, but I went out really conservative and ended up running the last half of the marathon over a minute a mile faster than the first half... You can do it!!!!

I did IM Whistler July 29 2018. I was more consistent the 10 months prior, than I have ever been the past 10-years in the sport. Hell, i even took the last week of June off and did a train-cation in and around Greenville, SC. July 4th, i was working at home, got up to get something to eat and felt a dull pain in my lower back. Throughout the day, the pain intensified like nothing i've never experience before. Turns out pissed off a disc in my lower back. I could barely stand up or sit. So I was forced do nothing and didn't do anything until the few days prior when i finally started to feel like i could mildly exercise. I could swim and ride (somewhat) but running impact was... uncomfortable.

Since everything was already paid for, I rolled the dice and showed up to the start line. I ended up swimming a PB, my back flared up at mile 43 of the bike and ended up riding 7:14 and walking the entire marathon. It was a long effing day. Could i have seriously done damage...probably, but i had reasons to not quit that day. Even though it was painful as hell, I felt I got my monies worth and got to really see the scenery. I mean, if i was to walk a marathon, Whistler isn't too bad.

I don't know how many fulls you've done or what they mean to you, but it sounds like you've already mentally prepared yourself for a long day. You have the advantage of FL being FLAT versus climbing 7500ft. I'd say roll the dice and see how you feel. Worst case, you walk the marathon and laugh about the race at the your IM. A character building day if you want to call it that.

Good luck!

That really helps. Thank you for replying. I think I will really regret not showing up. I train with power but I will be racing by HR so my plan won't change but the output will. Thanks again!!

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I have been consistent for the last 2 years. I don't do a lot of intensity except in the swim. Thank you for your reply.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

It looks like you hit your biggest weeks at about the right time. Would it have been better to not get sick and do more than 6.5 hours those follow-up weeks? Sure. But it shouldn’t be devastating. You should have been ramping down anyway.

Part of me wants to test the saying, "The Hay is in the Barn". I mean we all say it to help each other but is it really true? I just don't want to miss anything obvious here.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

If anything it has forced you to take it easy and give your body time to heal instead of grinding your bones to dust for the month of October.

You’re fine.

Your HR being higher than normal while biking could be a sign that you were overtraining earlier -- failure of heart rate to rise while exercising is often a sign of that.

I got quad tendonitis 3 weeks before the Boston marathon this spring, had a very steep taper (much more so than what you indicated, only ran something like 5 miles for the week two weeks out from the race). Went to the doctor who said I was fine to race on it, and was worried about it flaring up but no troubles from it during the race. Wasn't my best marathon, but ran a solid time overall and was on PR pace through 30k before running out of gas. Poor taper made things not as good as they could have been but bigger factors were weather and failing to conserve enough energy/fuel enough before the start of the race. See how your body does, hay is in the barn!

Adjust your pacing from the gun & adjust your expectations and things should be fine.

Look it's just a fucking IM. Anyone can go exercise for 13h off of minimal training. You'll be fine if you start out smart.

Who cares if you finish or not?
No one.
That's who.
Do the swim, do the bike do the 1st loop of the run. If you're not feeling it bail and go have a beer. You'r family will thank you for not making them spend an additional 120% of the time your first loop of the run took, you can have a netflix & chill night with the SO and still have gotten in more exercise than most get in during an entier week.

That finish at all cost mentality is dumb as fuck.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I had almost the exact same scenario happen. 4 weeks out got pneumonia. Seemed to be better. Kind of screwed the last month of training though.

Swimming at the pool at the Summit in PCB on Wednesday I went end to end under water. Came up, took a real deep breath. Felt the gurgle in my lungs. Well I didn't go all the way to Florida to turn around and go home.

Swim was alright. Bike started ok. Somewhere around 50 - 70 miles I started fading. Finished the ride around 20 - 30 minutes slow. It was a pretty nice day, not too hot, not too cold. I knew the marathon would suck but it wouldn't be the first time. My body was like a car that spent too long in the demolition derby. As the marathon went on more pieces fell off. Pretty soon it was just a chassis with 3 wheels and all the tires flat. Last half I was wrapped in a space blanket on a warm evening shivering. Half the time had it over my head. I finished smiling. It showed (again) that I can in fact push myself to the point of danger.

Got home. My doctor told me I was beyond dumb. People die from pneumonia. Makes a really good story though.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

You never know what will happen on race day, or any workout for that matter. I had to pull the plug on a 4 hour easy ride at 2 hours because I could not hold any power. A day later I set a new FTP on the bike and PB 1000 yard swim.
Also I would suggest finding a process goal. (trainerroad podcast talks about this a lot) maybe you are not going to have your best race, but find something to say "if I do this, then it is an ok day"

Follow feet for the swim
hold you VI on the bike below X%
Only walk during the aid stations
thank 40 volunteers
highfive 100 people

just something so that you are not spending the whole day saying "well I planned on finishing in 10 hours, and now I am on hour 13 and this sucks"

HTFU & crack on

Ideal? No. Terrible? Nah.

Your preparation hasn't been on point but it's not your are entirely unprepared. I would go for it knowing it won't be your best effort. Back off the bike power a bit, and just remember to enjoy the day. When you get out on foot don't set expectations. Go out at a pace you consider easier than you would ever do a long run at. And just go.

If you try to race it, you will likely have a bad day of it. But if you go in with a "have fun get it done" attitude, and pace it accordingly, you will finish.

So was the hay in the barn?

It sure was. I'm a believer now that more rest is best. It really helped me understand tapering a lot more. DON'T STRESS THE MISSED WORKOUTS. EVEN IF IT'S A WEEK OR TWO OF MISSED WORKOUTS. Thursday I was not racing and wide awake from 1130pm until sleep Friday night. I was really disappointed about it but my wife got me to the starting line Saturday morning. I had not one nerve in my body race morning knowing it was a long training day that might end soon. It was ~45° with the feels like @ 40° race morning. I wasn't sure what that would do to my body but I hadn't really been coughing. Well, I went 9:44 running a 3:18. That being said my legs were dead on the bike and I couldn't hold my head up with my traps/neck after ~75 miles. I just looked up long enough to see clear road then stared at the white line. I felt like I was riding through mud but somehow I was able to run. Running has been my most consistent discipline all year. During the swim I just twisted my body more than usual so I wasn't turning my head to much to breath. Crazy but you can bet I will be changing the way I taper going into races. PR race for me.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Congrats!

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Awesome work! Congrats

I'm glad you chose to race, as I'm sure you are too!

My family moved less than two months out from IMLP and I had a few really light weeks, and did not question if I should race or not, but wondered how exactly I would perform. It just goes to show you that forced light weeks or rest can sometimes be more beneficial than if you had completed huge volume weeks. Well done!

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Blog: https://davidkoppeltriathlon.blogspot.com/
Coaching: https://dkendurance.com/

Congratulations! Great job by both you and your wife (for getting you to the start line). How do you think you'll change your taper going forward? What did you do previously that you will not do going forward?