10 Days and Counting

Taper time is tough. My problem is twofold-

I know that my fitness building is complete. This close to race day, there’s nothing I can do to materially build fitness, so the workouts are aimed at just “staying sharp” and keeping me from losing fitness and gaining weight. Really hard to get out of bed at 4:30 or 5:00 am when I know the work is done! On the gaining weight piece, after getting accustomed to eating 4,000+ Calories a day, I suddenly find myself trying to eat like a normal human being. This is a difficult adjustment!

Secondly, what has been such a distant goal for so long suddenly becomes very real. At times I doubt my ability to pull this thing off. My excitement about achieving such a large goal has turned into total obsession. I’m actually trying to schedule distractions, to keep my mind from constantly obsessing!

One helpful coping strategy I’ve adopted is allowing myself to think about life after Ironman. What’s next, right? I’m picturing my life without the extreme training demands and am actually getting excited about a few ideas swimming around my head. A useful exercise!