Two Weeks and Counting

A message from Coach Carla to her clients...

"ACHIEVEMENT IS LARGELY THE PRODUCT OF STEADILY RAISING ONE'S LEVEL OF ASPIRATION AND EXPECTATION." --Jack Nicklaus

If you believe you will achieve!! In 14 days (7 for Ryan) expect great things from yourself! Your hard work will all come forward and you will perform your best!

This week (for Madison people) is going to lead you into a full taper next week. Your body is hyper sensitive to everything!! A small twinge might seem like your arm fell off. This is normal!! You need to work on staying healthy, getting your rest, and thinking with a clear and positive vision of your race day. Take time each day and sit with yourself, go over every detail. Not only the positive things of the day--seeing all your friends and family, crossing the finish line with Mike Reilly announcing your name BUT the not so positive things too. What happens if you get kicked hard in the swim, your goggles fall off; flat on the bike; cramp on the run?? What is your plan of action? How will you handle situations that may come up. We all want a perfect and smooth race, but as you know that doesn't always happen. You can still end your day with turning possible obstacles into perfect situations.

Your volume of training will be coming down, you know how you have been camped out by the fridge and eating everything in sight?! Well, you could gain weight if you don't consider the fact that your training hours are dropping, so just eat well, stay hydrated and stock your fridge for the few days after Ironman (You would eat the paint off the walls if you could!!)

Mentally, your at the point - asking yourself - "Did I do enough training? Should I have skipped that one run (or bike or swim) workout? Should I have bought that new bike?" NOTHING is more important now than simple bits of "fine tuning" your fitness. Know that you did everything possible for yourself to prepare for your race, we all have days that workouts have to be missed for some reason or another, BUT we can't dwell on that!! The days of all the positive workouts out weigh anything negative. So put your focus there!!

Ryan - have a safe trip to Kentucky - we will watch you on Ironman live, the rest of you keep smiling, hang in there your day is almost there!! Be smart and train safe!

Carla Hastert
USAT Triathlon Level II Coach