Friday, August 31, 2018

August (and everything , er before...)

OK, time to report on August 2018.  Bottom line, a real solid IM Build month.  Here is August 2018 vs. last year:

                   Swim         Bike         Run          Time

2018             35k          1,085        105          105 hours
2017             13               939          41            72

So, obviously I'm doing a lot more in getting ready for my IM this year than last.  I think it might be more instructive to look at my June-August IM build for each of my last three IMs as well as my progress this year:


                    IM         Swim         Bike        Run         Time

2013           IMLT      119            3069        337          268
2014           Kona       128            2988        333         261
2017           IMAZ       24            2864        159          220
2018           IMFL        77            3180        258          287

So swim wise, I'm starting to rebound nicely from the challenges I faced last year with my shoulder bursitis.  For these three months, I didn't put in as much volume in as I did in 2013 and 2014 but at 35k yards this month I'm pretty much back to where I was in those years.  I've been very conservative rebuilding my swim after having to go through 4 months of rehab last year due to my shoulder and I'm very pleased with how far I've progressed.  My recent times on my long OW swims are as good as I've ever been able to produce.  As far as IMFL goes, my swim is battle ready right now!

There is less variation in my biking volume.  I'm pretty consistent through the years.  I just completed my 8th consecutive month of 1,000+ miles this year.  My bike is solid.  Not as good as 2013/2014 but really trending up.  At the end of the day, I'm now slowing down on the bike as I age.  Still, I'm optimistic I can get strong enough to ride a 5:30 at IMFL, which puts me in the game!

My run (i.e. mostly walk) is what it is.  I'm putting the time in but my quality is so much less now--most of my Run(Walk) is walk these days.  I'm trying to get to the point where I can go after the swim/bike and still paste together a 6 hour marathon.  Not awesome of course, but it still might be good enough to punch my ticket to Kona in 2019...so I continue to push on....

At the end of the day I'm really working pretty hard at this.  I enjoy it and believe I have a chance, both to finish IMFL and perhaps to grab my 4th Kona slot.  I could not ask for more from a motivation stand point!  I'm really hammering now and am very motivated to stay on it!

rc             

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