Update - 5 weeks and counting

Keeping up with this blog is harder than keeping #2 and #5 diapers stocked in our house!  

Training-wise, things are going well.  I'm been accumulating quite a bit of fatigue but this time of year that's normal.  Train hard, sleep hard, repeat.  Five more weeks to go.  

 

My build continues and I'll peak with two 20ish hour training weeks separated by a recovery week.  I'm going with a two week taper again.  Last year I was a dumb-ass and errored on the side of doing too much during taper, rather than too little. I'm smarter now (hopefully) and you won't catch me doing 3x12min threshold intervals with less than a week to go.

 

Swimming
2500-3000 yds a week.  This time of the year, swimming is scheduled to give the legs a bit of a rest, but I'm usually so fried by Swim Day, I find myself just flopping the workout.  I relate this closely to racking up "junk miles" on the bike, which is usually ill-advised, but at this point I've always struggled reducing hours/intensity in my other disciplines just to really kill a swim session.  Lately, I've been able to just barely hang on for my 200s on 3min and/or 300s on 4:30 and they really leave me gassed.  When in doubt, I'll still push the interval but increase the rest a little.  

I've been reading quite a few blogs of other fast "amateurs" lately and other than having a full-time job, my training volume is the only drastic delta from my approach to theirs.  (sorry, that was my poor attempt at sarcasm).  Self doubt always starts to creep in with 4-6 weeks to go before an Ironman...did I do enough?  In '09 the answer was Yes, in '11 is was No.  Over the past 6 months I've made adjustment to my schedule to ensure the answer this year will be Yes.  Trust the approach. Trust the training.

Biking
Inadvertently, I’ve turned myself into a weekend warrior of sorts.  Not by choice but out of necessity.  While I’ll get in an hour or so each day of the week, lately, nearly 60% of my total weekly volume comes during the weekend.  I’m not advocating this method because I truly believe that consistency is the key, but you have to play the hand your dealt.

  

My long rides have finally built up to 5 hours.  I’m not into over-distance training, even back when I had the time.  A 3 hour tempo ride with a little brick run afterwards seems to be plenty of work in my book.

I haven’t tested FTP in months but I’d wager a guess that I’m still sitting around 265W + 5.  I really don’t think it matters knowing exactly what my FTP is because over the past several months I've determined a realistic pace (W) that I  can hold for the duration of a long ride.  After all, I am training for an Ironman and not a 40K time trial.

Running
My running is hanging in there.  A bunch of shorter 30-60 min runs with one big one that is stretching to 2 hrs in duration.  I’m hoping to hit 2 more in the 2 – 2 ½ hr range and then call it good.  I’ve put a lot of miles on these legs in the past few years, I see no sense accumulating too much damage amidst all the other work going on.  I'm not 'fast' by any means, but then again 'fast' takes on a new definition at mile 20 of an Ironman run.  As such, no real speed work at the moment…too concerned at the cost of recovery for such activities.

Core/Yoga
I'm really working to increase my core strength and flexibility this time around.  I've been completely fascinated by the Olympics.  In so many of the training snippets aired in prime time, one of the repetitive  themes is some ridiculous core exercises that they all make look easy.  Take note:  these are the best athletes in the world, maybe they're on to something!

Nutrition
I'm currently up 5-7 lbs from my desired race weight.  Just like any big race, I'm cutting sweets (chocolate, candy, baked goods) and cheese for the reminder of my count down.  My diet leading up to a big race is far from Primal like it was this past March for a 1/2 marathon, but it is full of high quality/low fat carbs and protein.  

5-7 lbs might sound drastic on an already lean frame but equally drastic is the weekly volume of chocolate chip cookies I can take down!  Leading up to a race, my Mom uses the word SKINNY a lot, I prefer the word FAST.

 

Upcoming topics include Racing in the Heat and the Scouting Report for M35-39 at IMOO, but as a precursor, the field is gonna be STACKED!

Until next time,

Train Safe.  Train Smart.