6 Weeks To Go
Now entering the meat, the heart, of any Ironman training cycle. Everything up to now has been merely preparation for what happens in the next 32 days. It's all about far, and steady, and focus, and aero, and refining the eating and drinking. Get wet, get sweaty, getting ready.
The past week was at times a struggle for me. I managed 940 TSS in six days of training, taking Wednesday completely off to allow for some recovery and consolidation after a Big Bike effort in the mountains. CTL is up to 124. I finally configured WKO 4 (Mac version) to my liking, so I can review each sport in depth on a weekly basis. EG:
- Swim: 4 sessions, 10, 958 meters, 3:40, IF 0.81, finishing with a 4500 yd continuous swim (Somehow I miscounted my strokes or laps or 100s or something - I was trying to do 4200, but reduced O2 will do that, I guess.)
- Run: 5 sessions, 29 miles, 4:15, IF 0.81, including my first TP efforts since tweaking my R hamstring and glute after IMLP. I also got back on the long run program, hitting a 2 hour split run on Friday.
- Bike: Only 3 sessions, but still more hours, 9:02, than the plan called for with 140 mi, 8700' elev gain, IF 0.71: 2:30 @ HIM pace up hills on Monday, 1:15 with 40 min of FTP intervals up my neighborhood "hills" (the first one is 1000' elevation gain over 20 minutes), then riding the entire valley down and back in 5:20, suffering a mini-bonk about 4:20 in, then collapsing for the rest of the day (8 hours) with no run before or after.
This week has another mandatory rest day on Friday, traveling back from CO to WA. I'm planning on 5 swim sessions, as I find that splitting the Mon and Tues workouts each in half works better for me at altitude, and also when I have to swim on days when I also do run or bike intervals. I want to up my run by another 15% in distance, pushing the split long run to 15.5 mi on Wednesday. And I will do the mini-camp/RR bike this weekend back at sea level, 112 miles + 6 mile run on Saturday, then swim 3800 meters, maybe outside, and bike another 56 miles on Sunday.
Comments
Great work Al. Something I read today: "Obsessed is a word that the lazy use to describe the dedicated." Keep it rollin'.
@ AL and Tim...good work guys. It seems like both of you are doing a good job balancing hard training with enough rest. I think both of you are on a good track.
I'm slowly getting back into training after IMMT. I took 4 days off completely, and then added ez, short swims and rides back into the mix. Didn't run for 10 days post race to let my blisters and toes heal up. Everything good now. I've done 3 ez, 3-4 miles runs in last 5 days and all good. I'm going to do a 6 miler tonight and 90 minute run on Thursday. I swam 3000 meters this am, & while not fast it felt ok. Last Saturday I served as a race guide to phyically challanged athlete doing a super sprint. I had to carry her 100 yards into and out of the water, & pretty much had to drag her for the 350 meter swim. She was much better on the hand cycle and racing chair where I rode and ran along with her. For me it was such a great reminder how blessed I am to be healthy and able to do these crazy IM events. Also last Sunday I rode 75 miles in rolling terrain of Wisconsin with some less serious triathlete friends. I rode very ez or I would have left them in the dust. Avg speed 16.0 mph, avg watts 132 (.50 IF) and 172 NP. I did push it a bit up a few hills (hence higher NP) and then coasted down all the hills. I forgot how nice it is to just coast along and chat with folks. Going to do my first serious interval session on the bike tomorrow am. Going to swim 4000 meters on Friday. Planning on an 80 mile ride at IM pace + 4 mile run this coming Saturday, and 60 mile ABP ride on Sunday. Skipping the race rehersal that the plan has for this weekend per Coach R's instruction; he said go for bike volume instead. After this weekend I'm going to follow the advanced plan as close as possible up to the race.
Stay healthy!! I'll be arriving in Kona on Saturday Oct 3 with my friend Kathleen. She recently finished IMMT too but has never been to Kona. I think she is just as excited to be going to Kona to spectate as I am to race. We're staying with the EN camp group as that was basically the only reasonable place left. JT arrives Tuesday Oct 6 as he had some work committments on Monday.
All of you raced recently, and that makes the build to Kona so much harder mentally and physically. My advice is to lock in a steady run program at a good number for you (I am at about 40 miles per week) and use the bike and swim as tools to get back on track. Very little you can do here run wise that will pay off for Kona other than practicing the hydration stuff you'll need.
I am in a good place right now for the final push, but that could change. Pretty big week this week, then a lighter week, then one last big week for me...but I have decided to take my own advice re the run and keep the miles locked in and no single run longer than 2 hours (unless I get lost like last week).
Can't wait to see you all there!