Am I just crazy or do others feel this way?
Before every race people will ask “you ready?”. I will say “sure” or make a joke, but in my head I always feel like I haven’t done enough & feel slightly disappointed. Does that ever go away? Or am I the only one that thinks like this?
I think you are probably with the majority that during the taper get the feeling of not being ready or getting the “taper blues”. Some get this feeling and make the mistake of checking to see if they are ready or not prior to raceday.
99.9% of triathletes feel the same. You’re more normal than not.
99.9% of triathletes feel the same. You’re more normal than not.
.1% are in severe delusional denial
Everyone does. I cant remember ever hearing a triathlete go to starting line and saying “Man, Im fully prepared and in perfect shape for this race.” Everyone thinks they’re behind on their plan or sore or not ready in some aspect of their “game”.
Thats what makes the pursuit so addictive and the sport so challenging for those that wish to be their personal best 
Everyone does. I cant remember ever hearing a triathlete go to starting line and saying “Man, Im fully prepared and in perfect shape for this race.” Everyone thinks they’re behind on their plan or sore or not ready in some aspect of their “game”.
Thats what makes the pursuit so addictive and the sport so challenging for those that wish to be their personal best
And they love to say that in case they have a “bad” race.
+1
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Am I just crazy or do others feel this way?
Before every race people will ask “you ready?”. I will say “sure” or make a joke, but in my head I always feel like I haven’t done enough & feel slightly disappointed. Does that ever go away? Or am I the only one that thinks like this?
Most people, myself included, don’t even know what ‘ready’ means.
It is normal to doubt, but you also need to have a healthy dose of positive self attitude and trust that your training was sound. Naturally if you spent the winter eating bon-bons you can’t feel good about the prep, but if you paid your dues you should feel confident that you will perform well. Whatever you do, don’t feel like you need to “train” in the 72 hours before the event because at that point the only thing in your control is staying rested and healthy.
I’ve never been ready for a race… Always something else you wish you had done. Like one more long run, or buy a new disk wheel, or that P5, or a better wetsuit, or another 50k in the pool. But if you wait for perfection, you’d never race.
But, yeah, common feeling.
-Robert
The feeling never completely goes away but the higher up you get in sport, and particluarly if you are full time and well coached, one learns to handle that both physically and mentally and training doubts really are not an issue. Pros a) know for a fact they are actually showing up very close to or actually fully 100% prepared which makes the mental issue alot easier and b) whatever their physical state, they drive those feelings out on race day. They might know winning is not in the cards but they are up for the fight and what happened or did not happen in the past is gone. Its all future and no past.
Amatuer athletes = afraid on race day. Full time serious athletes = calm as can be on race day but afraid someone else is working harder or smarter every other day.
Be afraid in training and race day will take care of itself.
I’ve felt that way for every race I’ve done, but for this Sunday - it’s true. Between business trips, Disney World, and getting sick, my training has been spotty to say the least.
Going to have to treat Sunday as a training day - who knows? I may have my best race yet!
twomarks
I can feel “ready” and still know there is more I could have done. I think of myself as ready to perform at my best based on the training I put in.
This means having a good taper, not being fat, eating right the week leading up to the race, having equipment in good shape, knowing the course, etc.
Ready to race isn’t the same as ready to win. But I have never won, so maybe my expectations are too low.
Oh man tell me about it… I swing wildly between “I’m ready!” to “I have no business being in this race…” Today was one of those days - 2 sleeps before one of my biggest races in 15+ years - I think as long as I can toe the start line, it won’t matter, but getting there sure sucks!!
AP
Have you done enough?
Well, that depends on your goals, and what your perception of “enough” truly is.
Clearly, if you want an X hour finish, but you trained for an X+1 finish, then you haven’t done enough.
**Could you have done more? **
In most cases, yes … but you can’t go back and do more, so it’s an invalid concern.
There is always a cost for “doing more,” and (cumulatively) it may have been to your detriment.
Are you ready?
If you show up on race day, able to execute on your current fitness, then you’re as ready as you’ll be.
I often feel unprepared or ill equipped when I enter the transition area to set up for the first race of a new season. I feel like everyone has a much better bike, has zipps, a disc or a power meter, etc. These guys must be FAST!
Most of those feelings go away when I don’t see very many of those bikes and fancy gear on the rack when I return from the bike leg. Always nice to know that the training you’ve put in means more than a fat wallet that can buy all the top gear.
You can only feel prepared if you have an expected result, which you believe is easily reachable and which you will then reach because of your preparedness.
If you don’t feel prepared enough, it’s because your expected results are too high, although your current preparedness may be on a good level.
We all want to win, and to win we need to beat the other guy. With no idea how well prepared he is, your expected result becomes unknown, hence your uncertainty about your preparedness.
It makes sense if you don’t think about it.
I like this.
I’ve got a 1/2 IM coming up. Think I’m ready. I’ve trained hard and taken care of myself. I’m injury free and better prepared than I can ever remember. I’m going to bury my old PR.
Whenever someone asks me if I’m ready on race day, I answer “HELL YEAH!!!” In my opinion, a high dose of positivity won’t hurt and hopefully it rubs off to other people. You make make your training sessions suck so after taper, the race will suck less and the race would be a much more positive experience than you expected it to be. Do your best and finish in one piece if you ask me. I’m MOP and hoping to break 5 at HIM if it matters.