The best way to prepare for an Ironman

The best way to prepare for an Ironman - is to do an Ironman every week
 
Lots of athletes become fearful over the last few weeks that they have not done enough training. This is one of the biggest fears new ironman competitors have.
 
An Ironman training program should do a couple of things for the athlete. First and most important is to instil a feeling of confidence in the athlete. Each of the bigger workouts should be a confidence building experience. That is, after every workout the athlete should feel he/she has moved one step closer to being ready. Keeping a training diary, and recording what was good about each session, gradually builds confidence. It is also a record which the athlete can look back over, and actually see where you have come from.
 
The well kept training diary is a great assett in case of an injury or other setback. Instead of sitting around worrying about all the training you're missing, you can look back and count what you have done. It's always a mind saver, to count what you have, rather than counting what you've missed out.
 
Looking through that training diary will usually reveal that if the weekly training distances are added. The average athlete does more than an Ironman each week, in time and distance.
 
So if your body is used to doing an Ironman each week for the past 12 to 16 weeks - surely it's going to be able to do the distance on race day when you're fresh. The most important thing you can build is your confidence. Most experienced Ironman competitors will agree that the race is 70% mental. Once you've done the work.