Training homestretch

I am entering the home stretch of Ironman Coeur d'Alene preparations, and things seem to be going fairly well. One thing is clear, I am stronger than I've ever been on the bike. I am clearly at a new level for riding, and my watts are proving it. It's got me pretty excited for the race, and I am looking forward to it.

I've been doing a lot of solo-riding, with 4+ hour efforts at Fiesta Island. (Yes, 4 hours around Fiesta Island. Crazy, boring, but effective!) The workout has been 3x6 mins at threshold watts, with 2 min recoveries, then 3x20 mins at just below threshold watts, 5 min recoveries, then 2.5 hours steady state at high zone 2 watts. Each week has seen improvement, significantly, despite a large increase in running volume.

My running seems to be coming on, but still helter-skelter, as I've been piling on the mileage. Some days I'm feeling like I can crush it, then other days are a death march. A simple example is about a week and a half ago, I did a 2 hour run moving well, right around 6 min pace on a hilly course. 2 days later I did a zone 1 only 90 min run, which was all at 6 min to 5:40 pace. Followed that up with my 8 hour day which was a death march. This past week, much of the same. Yesterday's run, legs were toast. Like I said, helter-skelter.

Weight has been all over as well, so clearly my body is in a state of chaos and change. The taper for CDA will only be about 10 days long, so that means another week and a half of solid volume and training. Why only 10 days? Because my running still needs to come along, and as strong as I am right now, 10 days is a long time for a taper. I am also not peaking fully for this race. The main goal is qualifying for Kona, and saving it for that. Hopefully, that will happen. If not, it looks like IMAZ in November.

My swimming is about the same as my running. Normally it's hard to keep each sport improving. I think when the taper comes though, the swim will launch! Peter used to tell me, "Swimming is the first thing to go when you're tired."

That's all for now...

Vance