doing CDA on 6/25. totally spent, could take a nap at a moments notice. Mentally absent from my job (which is running a 450 person company). The little IM man in my head says, your not done yet, your plan says to run today for 1 hr. Do I say “f” it, I want to rest and get on with the race. I have done the work, and I know I am in peak shape - but freaking exhausted - did I also mention moody, and easily provoked to violence? Do I take a day of rest and go to my kids t-ball/baseball games tonight, or go run, and end up feeling the same tomorrow, yet 10 days out from CDA?
I’m not inexperienced, been here before, just obsessive…
No. Go for a 20-miler instead, that’ll show your plan a thing or two…
You know the answer to this. Take a day off or go for a much shorter, easier run…better yet, take the time and get a massage and then go to your kids’s games. Nothing you do now helps you really (except rest and staying/getting sharp) but could hurt you dramatically.
Know that you could do almost NOTHING from now until your IM race and it would likly have little or no impact on your ability to perform at your best given the previous training that you have done.
Got to agree (not with the 20 miler part), listen to you body. You won’t add any fitness to a race coming up in 10 days, but you sure can continue to exhaust yourself. At this point, rest is much more important that workouts.
Just keep that ‘prone to violence’ stuff in check at your kids t-ball game!
Agree with Fleck, at this point you just want to keep things well oiled-meaning stay loose by doing rediculously light/easy/slow workouts. I’m a big fan of the “hard taper”, I do very little in the last 1.5 weeks before an ironman. Eating can be a problem since my appetite stays with me during this time. You would be better off to replace several of the workouts you have left with stretching sessions of 45 to an hour–especially if you feel like your at the edge right now!
If you’re 10 days outs and bagged…you need to say fuck it and get some rest. This is your taper, you should feel anxious to do a workout and feel even more anxious to keep going when you stop. Like Fleck said, not much to gain now from overtraining…if anything, you’ll just bag yourself for race day.
you aren’t in peak shape if you are exhausted. Training doesn’t make you stronger, recovery does. You gotta semi-serious problem now if you are exhausted today more than you were a week ago. Not much time to recover properly given all the little things you have to do for getting ready to leave for IM. between your job and the nits of packing and gear list you will be very busy. Drop dead taper. Don’t do anything. Try and get as much sleep as possible. Do a couple of Tylenol PM’s and get 9 hours tonight. Then plan on several more of those. Do abosolutely zero exercize until the day before. Sounds radical, but I have done a dozen IM’s, Q’d for Kona several times, have a young family, run a company and know when you need sleep and rest, there ain’t any half measures at this point. You need sleep and to go to CdA feeling totally scared that you blew it by taking too much rest. Then you will have the race of your life. Trust me and your preparation. I follow this plan several times a year and it works well enough to get me onto the IM AG podium. You’ve done the work, now rest and trust your efforts in March.
**You need sleep and to go to CdA feeling totally scared that you blew it by taking too much rest. Then you will have the race of your life. Trust me and your preparation. I follow this plan several times a year and it works well enough to get me onto the IM podium. You’ve done the work, now rest and trust your efforts in March. **
Wow, that is a radical plan…I think most of us would go freakin’ crazy with that kind of taper…maybe that’s why most of us don’t podium, huh?
My first IM (>15 years ago), I trained 500 hours over the year but was also working like a dog. 3 weeks out I found myself spent, but also with a ton of work to do. I did NOTHING for 3 weeks. Zero, Zip, Nada…as in not a swim stroke, pedal turn or 1/4 mile run. I got 5th overall at Vineman. Luckily I had lots of work to do to get my mind off the fact that I was scared. In the last years I do ~ 3 IM’s a year and always take waaay more time off than the books say (and I read them all). Despite my own busy-life circumstances, I cannot fathom doing the tapers they suggest in books. The averge athlete, even at the AG FOP, are too tired to do those slight reductions in volume. The problem is that most don’t know how tired they are because they are inured to fatigue. The other problem is that they don’t trust their bodies. Mark Allen’s quote is classic, but do you think anyone ever listens and does that?
“It is better to get to the start line of an Ironman 20% undertrained than 1% overtrained.”
Mark Allen
Story of my life!
And yes, when you get to the starting line, just trust your plan. Lots of fine looking athletes who you will hopefully get to blow by on the bike or run!
**The other problem is that they don’t trust their bodies. Mark Allen’s quote is classic, but do you think anyone ever listens and does that? **
Hell no, witness all the folks on the bike past Waikoloa and beyond the day before IMH for crissakes (with numbers on them so you know they’re racing). Substitute any IM for Kona and you see the same thing, people training up to the last possible second…I’ve not ever gotten that bad but have not ever felt like I nailed a taper for any long race I’ve done.
Very interesting advice…thanks for your point of view on this.
Yep: i’m scheduled for a 1:15 run tonight, but I just got off the couch from a nap and now I’m going to have a glass of wine and dinner with my grandpa.
Tapering? You guys are tapering already? I haven’t hit my peak yet - gotta get that 7hr ride 3 hr run in on Saturday:)
Ok reality - skipped my Sunday PM ride - took monday off completely, felt real slug like yesterday so cut my swim short - of course I feel guilty as all hell - and want to eat everything in site today…more than a little moody - i have been named Mr Grumpy at work…
Two weeks back I was saying I was in the best shape of my life by some way - now not so sure - hate the taper and the self doubt it brings…the fact is there is absolutely nothing I can do now to improve fitness - but there is still time to screw it up and overdo it or aggrivate a niggling injury i have…
This is no’s 6 for me and from here to race day I’ll train by feel mostly - if i skip a few more sessions it is probably a good thing - gotta watch the diet carefully though to ensure minimal weight gain… the biggest single factor now is rest and sleep:) That reminds me - gotta run for my nap:)
My experience has been that in the beginning of a taper (i.e. 1 week in or so), I’m often extremely lethargic and feeling about like you describe (and it’s worse than the day I started the taper often times). I think the body goes through a cycle of shutting down and repairing itself when the load is reduced. You have to get through this into the “repaired state” before you really start feeling like you want to on race day. A big workout will make you feel better for a couple days, but won’t leave you with the same kind of peak that rest does.
That’s my experience. I’d certainly be interested to hear from anyone who had read the literature on the subject.
