Up at 4:33 am to SBR before my morning train up to NYC. October is in the bank:
Swim: 40,300 yards
Bike: 1105 miles
Run: 177 miles
Time: 108 hours
Obviously a very big month. This is the second highest training hours I've recorded over the 59 months that I've been keeping track--My high was 111 hours in March 2008 when I did a Tuscon training camp for 17 days with Peter Reid et al.
This is the most swim yards I've done this year and the highest since January 2010. My run mileage is my second highest--my high was 181 miles in December of 2007.
Of course 2007 was my best triathlon year and was the year I set my PRs at the H-IM and IM distances. Here is how my volume over the last three months compares to a similar period in 2007:
Swim: 111,000 vs. 129,000. Down 14 %
Bike: 3,123 vs. 2,262. Up 38%
Run: 434 vs. 355. Up 22%
Time: 286 vs. 242. Up 18%
Hopefully this will translate into similar or perhaps a better performance at IMAZ!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Last "big" week before AZ--no drama to report!
I'm now under 21 days to race day. As I mentioned, this week was designed to be modestly lower volume, in aggregate and on my long bike/run, than last week. I pretty much executed my training plan despite my nagging cold. I missed one swim workout as the pool was closed for "electrical" problems on Thursday. Anyways--here's the data for the week:
swim: 8700 yards
bike: 267 miles
run: 43 miles
time: 26:20
I completed my 10th (and final) long run during this IM build: 17 miles in 2:26
I completed my 9th long bike (102 miles) and 9th long swim (4200 yards) as well.
This week will see a further reduction--probably to around 20 hours with a long ride of 100 miles or so and one last IM TT swim. Then I'll jump into a proper 2-week taper.
My body feels pretty good given the volume this month. I've plateaued now on my bike and swim and definitely will benefit from the rest/consolidation that a taper affords. Strangely enough, I believe that my run continues to improve....who woulda thought it? No injuries to bother discussing.
On plan!
swim: 8700 yards
bike: 267 miles
run: 43 miles
time: 26:20
I completed my 10th (and final) long run during this IM build: 17 miles in 2:26
I completed my 9th long bike (102 miles) and 9th long swim (4200 yards) as well.
This week will see a further reduction--probably to around 20 hours with a long ride of 100 miles or so and one last IM TT swim. Then I'll jump into a proper 2-week taper.
My body feels pretty good given the volume this month. I've plateaued now on my bike and swim and definitely will benefit from the rest/consolidation that a taper affords. Strangely enough, I believe that my run continues to improve....who woulda thought it? No injuries to bother discussing.
On plan!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Swim today
Did my 9th IM TT swim today in 69:10. My splits were 34:07 and 35:03. Last week I did 34:04/35:14/69:18. so my last four swims have been: 71:10, 68:45, 69:18 and 69:10.
I detect a plateau here--which of course is fine and not unexpected. This is about as far as I can expect to get swimming 7-10k per week. I seem to be locked in to a 68-71 zone, which I would be completely fine with at IMAZ.
One more long swim next week--mostly trying to maintain and not tweak my tender left elbow--will mostly do modest volume interval work and technique focused swimming....Probably 10k this week and next then down to 5-6 2 weeks out and jusgt 3-4k race week....
I detect a plateau here--which of course is fine and not unexpected. This is about as far as I can expect to get swimming 7-10k per week. I seem to be locked in to a 68-71 zone, which I would be completely fine with at IMAZ.
One more long swim next week--mostly trying to maintain and not tweak my tender left elbow--will mostly do modest volume interval work and technique focused swimming....Probably 10k this week and next then down to 5-6 2 weeks out and jusgt 3-4k race week....
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Biggest week behind me--4 to go!
My virus/cold continues to plague me--especially at night, but it really hasn't been enough of a bother to slow me down. I missed a couple of my w/os this week but by and large executed my big IM-prep training week this week. Totals for the week:
swim: 10,700 yards
bike: 349 miles
run: 42.5 miles
time: 31:02
My long w/os were:
swim: 4200 yards @ 69:18
bike: 120 miles @ 6:56
run: 20 miles @ 2:56
A couple of other comments:
-I've now completed 8 long swims/8 long bikes/9 long runs during this IM build--I should be able to get to my goal of 10/10/10 over the next two weeks
-My long w/os will be a bit shorter this and next week on the bike and run
-My swim splits were 34:04 and 35:14. My overall swim time was 33 seconds slower than last week, but I did this long swim on the 4th of 4 consecutive swim days and the prior week I did it after 3 days of no swimming--so, I'll take it. Also, I don't think I pushed quite as hard this week.
-My run was great. Also, I did the 42.5 miles in just 4 runs--I took 3 days off from running so my legs feel quite good this evening--should be able to hit another big run week next week.
Looking good at this point!
swim: 10,700 yards
bike: 349 miles
run: 42.5 miles
time: 31:02
My long w/os were:
swim: 4200 yards @ 69:18
bike: 120 miles @ 6:56
run: 20 miles @ 2:56
A couple of other comments:
-I've now completed 8 long swims/8 long bikes/9 long runs during this IM build--I should be able to get to my goal of 10/10/10 over the next two weeks
-My long w/os will be a bit shorter this and next week on the bike and run
-My swim splits were 34:04 and 35:14. My overall swim time was 33 seconds slower than last week, but I did this long swim on the 4th of 4 consecutive swim days and the prior week I did it after 3 days of no swimming--so, I'll take it. Also, I don't think I pushed quite as hard this week.
-My run was great. Also, I did the 42.5 miles in just 4 runs--I took 3 days off from running so my legs feel quite good this evening--should be able to hit another big run week next week.
Looking good at this point!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
One Month to go--the time of risk and reward
So a month from now, I will be 10 hours into my IMAZ journey. Hopefully, I'll be on my last run lap, but that could be wishful thinking. I'll probably know by now if I'm nabbing a Kona slot. I'll certainly know if I'm definitely not!
So these next three weeks: 5,4, and 3 weeks out are pretty critical for my Ironman build. They are all intended to be heavy workload weeks with multiple race specific simulations--either duration or intensity (and in the case of swimming-both at the same time). If done correctly, I can tweak up my fitness and hit that "mythical" fitness peak for my IMAZ race on November 20th. If I cross the line, and it's easy to do, I could get injured, sick or over-trained.
I had a very heavy week two weeks ago, 7 weeks out, and backed off last week to absorb it and due to lots of life obligations. I entered this week feeling a need to execute a very big training week. As luck would have it, on Sunday, I finally came down with the virus that has been plauging Judy for the last 10 days--aghhhh! Not great timing for sure, but I'm glad it's not race week.
I woke up very early on Monday with a decision to make--do I execute the day's workout plan (a long ride) or try to nurse my head cold, sore throat, achey body? I decided to give the ride a shot and headed out well before sunrise for what I hopped to be the longest ride of the year. As I rode, I felt better and better and decided to go for the whole ride--I hit the turnaround at 60 miles averaging 18.7 mph so I was satisfied. Then the wind came up--25+mph--and I slogged through challenging conditions taking 6:56 to complete the 120 miles. I was pretty whipped.
I made it through Tueesday's workouts fine and awoke at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday to get my 3 hours in before taking a train to NYC where I worked all day. I was quite exhausted Wednesday night and hacked and sneezed most of Wednesday night.
Despite this, I went after a pretty big day again today and as the day went on I felt really good--I think maybe I am turning the corner on my illness. I must say, I felt a real resevoir of strength in my workouts today....here is what I did today:
45 minutes of weights/stretching
9 miles of running at 8:15/mile--I felt really good on this run!
Half-Ironman swim at IM level of effort--took me 33:15
52.5 mile cruise interval workout on my Computrainer--putting aside my warm-ups and warm-downs, I repeated 15 minutes at 210 watts (a little above my IM power target) and 5 minutes at 130 watts as recovery. I averaged 191 watts for the whole affair. This whole effort felt very controlled for me--wouldn't call it easy--3 hours on a computrainer never is.
I have over 18 hours in already this week. I have my big swim tomorrow and my longest run on the year this weekend. Hoping to stay the course!
So these next three weeks: 5,4, and 3 weeks out are pretty critical for my Ironman build. They are all intended to be heavy workload weeks with multiple race specific simulations--either duration or intensity (and in the case of swimming-both at the same time). If done correctly, I can tweak up my fitness and hit that "mythical" fitness peak for my IMAZ race on November 20th. If I cross the line, and it's easy to do, I could get injured, sick or over-trained.
I had a very heavy week two weeks ago, 7 weeks out, and backed off last week to absorb it and due to lots of life obligations. I entered this week feeling a need to execute a very big training week. As luck would have it, on Sunday, I finally came down with the virus that has been plauging Judy for the last 10 days--aghhhh! Not great timing for sure, but I'm glad it's not race week.
I woke up very early on Monday with a decision to make--do I execute the day's workout plan (a long ride) or try to nurse my head cold, sore throat, achey body? I decided to give the ride a shot and headed out well before sunrise for what I hopped to be the longest ride of the year. As I rode, I felt better and better and decided to go for the whole ride--I hit the turnaround at 60 miles averaging 18.7 mph so I was satisfied. Then the wind came up--25+mph--and I slogged through challenging conditions taking 6:56 to complete the 120 miles. I was pretty whipped.
I made it through Tueesday's workouts fine and awoke at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday to get my 3 hours in before taking a train to NYC where I worked all day. I was quite exhausted Wednesday night and hacked and sneezed most of Wednesday night.
Despite this, I went after a pretty big day again today and as the day went on I felt really good--I think maybe I am turning the corner on my illness. I must say, I felt a real resevoir of strength in my workouts today....here is what I did today:
45 minutes of weights/stretching
9 miles of running at 8:15/mile--I felt really good on this run!
Half-Ironman swim at IM level of effort--took me 33:15
52.5 mile cruise interval workout on my Computrainer--putting aside my warm-ups and warm-downs, I repeated 15 minutes at 210 watts (a little above my IM power target) and 5 minutes at 130 watts as recovery. I averaged 191 watts for the whole affair. This whole effort felt very controlled for me--wouldn't call it easy--3 hours on a computrainer never is.
I have over 18 hours in already this week. I have my big swim tomorrow and my longest run on the year this weekend. Hoping to stay the course!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Week arear and ahead
AS I mentioned previously--i really backed off this week to deal with a lot of competingpriorities and to let my body recover from and absorb the volume of the prior week. Here is what that looked like:
swim: 7700 yards
bike: 143 miles
run: 24 miles
time: 14:49
I wouldn't be surprised if my volume next week is double this--time wise at least. I'm reasonably rested and with 5 weeks to go I need to put in a very heavy 17-21 day block. I'm kicking things off tomorrow a bit before sunrise and hopefully completing the longest ride of the season....
In the red zone now!
swim: 7700 yards
bike: 143 miles
run: 24 miles
time: 14:49
I wouldn't be surprised if my volume next week is double this--time wise at least. I'm reasonably rested and with 5 weeks to go I need to put in a very heavy 17-21 day block. I'm kicking things off tomorrow a bit before sunrise and hopefully completing the longest ride of the season....
In the red zone now!
Friday, October 14, 2011
The essence of Ironman?
I've been reading Fitzgerald's "Ironwar" and keep coming back to this quote which really speaks to me about my experience when I am racing an Ironman--here it is---what do you think?:
"In the hardest moments of a long race, the athlete's entire conscious experience boils down to a desire to continue pitted against a desire to quit. He is no longer a son or a father or a husband. He has no social roles or human connections whatsoever. He is utterly alone. He no longer has any possessions. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow, only now. The agony of extreme endurance fatigue crowds out every thought and feeling except one: the goal of reaching the finish line. The sensations within the body--burning lungs, screaming muscles, whole-body enervation--exist only as the substance of the desire to quit. What little of the external environment that the athlete is aware of--the road ahead, the competitor behind, the urgings of onlookers--exists only as the substance of the desire to continue. The desire to continue versus the desire to quit--the athlete is this and this alone until he choses one or the other. And when the choice is made, he briefly becomes either persevering or quitting until, after he has stopped at the finish line or, God forbid, short of it, the stripped-away layers are piled back on and he becomes his old self again. Only not quite. He is changed, for better or worse."
Truth my friends--gives me chills!
"In the hardest moments of a long race, the athlete's entire conscious experience boils down to a desire to continue pitted against a desire to quit. He is no longer a son or a father or a husband. He has no social roles or human connections whatsoever. He is utterly alone. He no longer has any possessions. There is no yesterday and no tomorrow, only now. The agony of extreme endurance fatigue crowds out every thought and feeling except one: the goal of reaching the finish line. The sensations within the body--burning lungs, screaming muscles, whole-body enervation--exist only as the substance of the desire to quit. What little of the external environment that the athlete is aware of--the road ahead, the competitor behind, the urgings of onlookers--exists only as the substance of the desire to continue. The desire to continue versus the desire to quit--the athlete is this and this alone until he choses one or the other. And when the choice is made, he briefly becomes either persevering or quitting until, after he has stopped at the finish line or, God forbid, short of it, the stripped-away layers are piled back on and he becomes his old self again. Only not quite. He is changed, for better or worse."
Truth my friends--gives me chills!
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