any suggestions?
A bottle of wine and a massage, to relax the nerves.
Sex
.
For before or after the race?
My wife had many of my friends and relatives write notes to me of encouragment and congratulations for getting to where I was, ready for the big dance. She had about 20 of them and started feeding them to me in groups of three or four the entire week before the race. It was very cool. She even had everyone write a congratulatory and a condolence letter for post race, depending on if I DNF’ed or not. Fortunately I got the good one’s. I did however read what they had planned to write if I did not make it and it was heartwarming to know that many people cared about how I felt.
And lots of Sex was really great too.
Karma.
:))
Religion and some faith !!! Better yet instill as much confidence in them as you can. Erm, sex, chocolate, massages, etc can only help.
A new bike for the race 
.
the best gift I ever recieved was a note in my t2 bag. It read that I was loved and I need to run fast because I was going to get loved that night.
I got in and mentioned the note to my wife…? She didn’t put it in there! WOW. Was I surprised…
I still think about the woman that put the note into the wrong bag. Still makes me smile!
new set of whatever goggles he/she is using
.
My extended family pooled some money and bought me a Renn disc.
“I still think about the woman that put the note into the wrong bag.”
What makes you think she put it in the wrong bag? Maybe she had some intentions on you, and didn’t know you were already taken…
a wheelchair rental
.
The space and support to freak out and obsess as necessary.
Advil
.
a wheelchair rental
LOL!
Mark Allen and Dave Scott are both great guys and I have heard that some spouses/significant others have arranged for them to either call or email an IM participant a few days before the race.
That would be cool.
Not sure if you can classify this as a gift, but before my first IM my wife presented me with a T-shirt signed with messages from all my friends and training buddies. Good for extra motivation knowing they were thinking of me…
Firstly, your calm and unswerving confidence and support if needed- in a quiet and reassuring way. Before Ironman many people (myself included) need quiet, alone space to refect on the enormity of what is about to happen and get their arms around the task at hand. Providing quiet support is such a great asset.
Secondly, this book is a great read right before Ironman since it can really help an athlete frame the experience mentally *right now. *It can have a lasting, calming, immediate effect on a person prior to a race. That’s good.
The book *Mental Training for Triathletes *By Jim Taylor, Ph.D and Terri Schneider, M.A.
thanks for the suggestions guys
really appreciate it
.
And what makes him think it was a woman. All that training makes IM athletes, very attractive, to ALL
I’m straight, so I would make the safe assumption that it was a woman writing the note too, but we all know that assumption is the mother of all F*%k-ups.
One of the reasons I’m so slow at IM is that I always make sure that if the hot chick handing out the finishers medals wants to go for the 4th event, I don’t even want to flinch or THINK of saying no. For me, the thought of turning down sex is like turning down my next breath.
My wife is always amazed that after IM, after a feed, shower and an hour or so rest, I start giving her the nod. It cracks her up every time. She thinks I’m kidding. Might not be my best performance ever, but I give it my best effort every time.