I have 14 days left. I’m in my taper. I’m ramping down the training hours. And, I’m still freaking myself out.
In truth, there are good and bad days. Sunday was a good day — I did a mini-triathlon (equipment testing) and felt really, really good. The bad days happen when I sit around and “over-think” my situation.
Wednesday was bad day. I’m reading the Athlete’s Guide and see the cut-off times. A cut-off time is a time marker where Ironman pulls you off course and doesn’t let you finish. For instance, I must finish the swim in 2:20 after the last athlete gets in the water. Since I won’t be last in the water and my projected swim time is between 1:40 and 1:50, I’m not worried about this.
I think OK-20 and OK-11 is around mile 85.
On the bike, I have to finish the course by 5:50 PM. Once again, I’m not worried. But inserted into the middle of the bike course are three additional cut-off times. Unfortunately, they are listed by street names, not miles. Out of curiosity, I decided to calculate the cut-off times for these streets. After studying the map and estimating the mile markers (not an easy task), I used my advanced Excel skills to create a spreadsheet where I enter my bike start time and speed to calculate my time at each cut-off marker. Since Excel doesn’t have great tools to add and subtract time, I programmed a group of functions to show me the results. And, the results showed that I missed the mile 85 cut-off. FREAK OUT. BAD DAY.
Wednesday night I go to bed telling myself all the “right” things.
- You can only control what you can control.
- I couldn’t have trained harder.
- It’s too late to change anything now. Let the chips fall where they may.
- It’s the journey that counts, not the race.
Yeah, right. The race counts — really! Thursday morning, I revisit my spreadsheet. As my boss always says, “if it looks wrong, it probably is”. Looking again, I do some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Something doesn’t add up. Lo and behold, I used a “Round” function instead of a “Trunc” function. The effect is that my time calculation got rounded UP, not DOWN. That mistake creates an hour time difference. So instead of missing the mile 85 cut-off, I should beat it by an hour. RELIEF. GOOD DAY
With 14 days left, I’m bracing for more freak out moments and sharpening my Excel skills.
This week’s training log.
- Monday (5/3): Open Water Swim 2.4 Miles (Full Ironman Distance).
- Tuesday: Bike 25 Miles; Run 1.3 Miles (Brick).
- Wednesday: Run 6.4 Miles; Swim 1,800 Yards.
- Thursday: Bike 20 Miles; Run 1.5 Mile. (Brick)
- Friday: Swim 2,000 Yards.
- Saturday: Rest — Mother’s Day Celebration. We celebrate a day early to beat the crowds.
- Sunday: Open Water Swim 1.3 Miles; Bike 22 Miles; Run 6 Miles (Mini-triathlon).
- Total Time: 12 Hours.
Riding Thru Bees 