boogeyman

Hello from wonderful Canindagua NY! I can't even ever spell the name of this beautiful town correctly and it's just 25 minutes from home, 10 minutes from Geneva.... where it's MUSSELMAN WEEKEND! So much going on this weekend with the Mini Mussel on Sat, the 1/2 Iron on Sunday and then MUSSELKIDS! Something for each of the Eggers!!!!!

We decided to make the weekend of it and grab a hotel room for a few nights. Next week we will be roughing it in a tent in Placid as I bring you daily coverage that you can't get on Ironman dot com! The real story!!! HA HA!

Taper this week went fine, all went fine, bike is ready and I am ready.

Curt and I got to talking about distance triathlon last evening. Exciting pillow talk 'round here! As a coach I have learned so much about distance, as an athlete I have learned so much about distance and it's always amazing to me how many people try to replicate race day Ironman or Half Ironman conditions in training.

Last week we talked about the three hour run. Why do people insist on that 7 hour bike ride and that three hour run? We know by now it serves no other purpose than possibly benefitting your mind. Maybe if you know you can ride 7 hours..... 6:15 won't seem so long? With a three hour run are you aiming to see if you can feel what the wall will feel like? I guess........ um.....NOT!

Here's the simple truth. You can not replicate race day conditions no matter how far or long you go in practice. In this case, practice does not make perfect. Practice, that kind of practice makes breakdown and injury.

The bogeyman.... he's gonna come. It might be at mile 15, 18, 22. On race day when he shows up..... you need to be prepared to face him. To look him in the eye and just .... just take it. He wants you to walk, slow down, rest..... the devil on your shoulder....

It's not easy. It never will be easy. Not for you, me, Chrissie Wellington..... sit down kids..... even for Lance Armstrong. No matter how many times he wins the Tour it never gets easier.

He just has learned how to dig deeper.

He knows how to look the boogeyman in the eye. He knows how to respond. No XX hour ride or XX hill repeat has ever created that.

It's the consistent miles and specific training that have armed him with what he needs, the tactics, tools, strength..... to face the boogeyman.

In this final week before Ironman Lake Placid I urge you not to look at how many times you rode 6 hours. I urge you to go into your little Training Peaks account and look at your actual versus planned for the past EIGHT months, not four months..... EIGHT MONTHS. It won't matter what your total volume was...... it will matter how consistent you were.

That consistency and that actual.... getting in training frequently and consistency, following your plan, that's money in the bank. You've spent months making deposits in the bank of iron in the form of consistent earnings rather than one big bonus.

Those earnings are the ammunition in your fuel belt, your back pocket. Now get off your feet, recover and taper. Let go of the worry. Trust in what you have spent the better part of a year focusing on.

The boogeyman is going to present himself. You don't know when, where or in what form. Don't get caught up in that part of it, you don't have control over it.

Get caught up in how strong you are and just how beautifully you are about to face him.

Now..... it's Musseltime. And I am ready. My deposits have been made. We will not be making a full withdrawal however, that's for November. We are making a secure transaction.

And it's code word..... is boogeyman.