The Ironman Part 2/3

So here we are, the day before Ironman Switzerland. I write this on the balcony of one of the most beautiful places I have ever stayed, a small Village called Krattigen overlooking Interlaken and the high alpine mountains that tower over us. It is hard to believe places like this exist, that beauty like this you can just access, train or race in or just enjoy. Certainly a great race for my parents and good friend Will to come out for!

Tomorrow I'll line up at 6:40am and be going for it, a super hard course out here but probably the most beautiful place I have ever raced or seen. I rode the course last weekend on the bike and this really helped my mindset and to know how my shape is, whilst hilly the bike has some seriously fast and flat sections so overall it won't be a "slow" course. 

Last week wasn't great and I started to worry and stress, all week I felt exhausted, kept needing to nap, could barely turn the pedals on the bike and motivation was pretty low. I've also been dealing with some personal things and this was all ramping up right at the wrong time. I kept telling myself I had time to freshen up, rest up and that I'd be okay. It was really hard to keep the mind at rest but with some good people on the end of the phone I kept calm and just listened to the body.

At the weekend when I went to Thun I did my final prep sessions that I'd been delaying and actually felt very good, the feelings had come back and I felt the sharpness that I needed. I also was starting to feel super excited for the race, really up for it and mentally started to shift some of the anxiety fog that I deal with.

It's funny, I wrote out my plans for the. 3 weeks leading up to the race and these have changed daily, I listened to my body, trusted how I felt and kept changing things. I feel with experience a a coach I can do that and trust in the changes. A plan is great but you need to be flexible things happen and change. 

I tried to keep life load and stress quite low this week along with physical stress, If im honest I think that's the hardest thing to "taper" or control, no one really cares you have a race life keeps going on and people push on with their agendas regardless. You just have to manage what you can, control what you can and put other things away in your head.

Anyway, here we are in Thun arrived yesterday and done all the usual pre race training and logistics. I feel excited, ready to go but incredibly nervous and a little anxious. An ironman is no small feat. regardless of how normalised it is these days its a bloody big day out and in places and courses like here even harder.

I have high expectations for tomorrow, I know I'm fit, I have done the work and I feel confident. I know I'll go to a few dark places and there will be highs and lows which I can't control. 

I'll report back after the race, ironically I won't publish any of this until after the race but that's where my head is at the day before. 

See you on the other side.

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