My Ironman Experiment

For me this will definitely be a first, and it goes against popular Ironman protocol. Sure you have your Biscays of the world- the superhumans who can do an Ironman and a wknd later do another and not just DO it, but WIN it. But that's not me.
So what is my awesome little experiment to which I will be the guinea pig you ask?? It's a 5 day taper leading into Arizona :D Brilliant, I know. No, but seriously, this could prove to be awesome....then again it could also prove to be down right stupid. We'll see.
The reason I'm feeling optimistic about this approach is two fold. One, I know from experience it doesn't take weeks and weeks to get IM fit (granted that you've been consistent in training and haven't gone into complete off-mode). In fact, I notice that in roughly 2 weeks of high volume with some key IM specific sessions, I feel invincible. There's a lot of fatigue I'm carrying at that point, but a high amount of fitness. I also know that following such a block, if I take say a day off and like 2 recovery days, my next solid session is phenomenal.
The second reason I'm gunning for this approach is that, honestly, after what I experienced in Honu 70.3 this May- where I had basically just been swimming for 1 month and only trying out tiny runs/rides with an f'd up knee- there's no way in hell I want to go to another race undertrained. The old sayind "better undertrained than over".....uhhm, I'll take the latter, thanks! I've got nothing to lose at this point. If there's one thing I learned this season is that in the end, all the pressure I put on my self, all the hype I gave to one race (Hawaii), all the things I thought would come crumbling down if I failed, they're all in my head. A week or two later, I opened my eyes and saw that my friends and family are still there, I'm healthy, I have a wonderful life, and little problems are simply obstacles, you go through them and move on. Win or lose, I'm still me and I have a lifetime ahead of me to succeed.
OK soap opera aside, what I'm trying to say is that, I want to go into this race with a risk, a risk that could yield a great reward. I hate being cautious, I don't like the easy way. Sometimes that screws me over, but sometimes it gives me great things.
Then there's also the timeline issue, haha. I might not have taken this route had I not gotten a cold last week. After a weekend spent in bed sneezing and coughing, I finally managed to feel human yesterday and got back into training. That leaves me 3wks out from race day. A week, really 5 days, of taper= 2wks for training. Rephrase: Ironman training, because you could argue I've been training a crapload longer than that.
So here goes! :D