I have now officially entered my taper for the California Ironman 70.3. I think the timing is perfect. I was really feeling the accumulation of all the hard workouts from the past couple of weeks and months yesterday. I am ready to start scaling it back and dialing in my race speed. I still will be working out quite a bit but the workouts are considerably shorter and to the the point. Get in, hit some intervals, cool down, and call it a day.
On Saturday morning I ran the St. Patrick's Day 10k and from the minute I started warming up I knew it was going to be a tough one. I had already put in a lot of training during the week and was just flat out tired. The race ended up going ok. The course was long and I was able to run a 34:10 (5:24/mile pace). I wasn't able to hang with Jim and he ended up getting me by ~20 seconds but I finished 5th overall and 2nd in my age group. Not too bad considering how I felt going it. I wore my Garmin during the race. Check these numbers:
Time: 34:10
Pace: 5:24/mile (slow!.... I want to be able to avg 5:15's)
Avg HR: 193 bpm
Max HR: 197 bpm
Splits per mile with AVG HR per mile:
mile 1: 5:17 - 183
mile 2: 5:22 - 195
mile 3: 5:17 - 195
mile 4 5:27 - 194
mile 5: 5:27 - 194
mile 6: 5:34 - 194
last .32(1:44): 5:21 - 193
mile 2: 5:22 - 195
mile 3: 5:17 - 195
mile 4 5:27 - 194
mile 5: 5:27 - 194
mile 6: 5:34 - 194
last .32(1:44): 5:21 - 193
I woke up yesterday morning feeling pretty trashed but pushed through a 3 hour ride with 3000+ ft of climbing. I tried to get my intervals in on hills the simulated the 70.3 course. Riding on dead legs is a lot harder for me than running on dead legs. It's just hard to keep my motivation when my legs feel that heavy.
After the ride I was beat down and very tired. I was supposed to meet Jim and some of the other athletes he coaches for an open water swim but I wasn't feeling it. I sent Jim a text message telling him I wasn't coming and he called me about 10 seconds later. He basically told me to get my ass down there and swim and that I needed to get in the cold water and I would feel better afterwards. He was right. I headed down there got in a short swim in the cold water but felt great during and afterwards. It definitely pays to have a good, honest coach that will call you out when you are being a wimp.
Ok. Here's the stats for my last build week:
Total Training Time: 18:26
swim: 16,500 yards (3 Masters, 1 Work pool, 1 open water)
Bike: 136.65 Miles (1 trainer, 4 road/tt)
Run: 32 Miles (4 runs - 1 off the bike)
Core: 2 sessions
This morning I am going to get some fitness testing done on the bike. I should have my power tap sometime in the next week or so I need some numbers to base my workouts on and gauge my progress as I start training with power.
That's it.
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6 comments:
I don't care how "SLOW" you think your splits are, I think they are amazing. If I could get my time down to 10min/mi I'd be estatic. A good swim always puts a smile on my face. Good luck on your Half. Where in CA is it? And one quick question, how do you measure/time the open water swim workouts?
I've been reading your blog for some time now and it's a real motivator. I personally think that your splits are fantastic.
By the way, thanks for posting all the pics and graphs.
3000 feet of climbing in 3 hours? wow! day after a scorching run. well done!
you're going to crush at the 70.3.
Looking forward to seeing you out there...
That's some serious training. I did the 10K this Saturday as well and was happy with my 55! Oh, well. It's all relative. I began my taper a little earlier than you but my body needed it, I think. I was pretty tired. HIM training really does take it out of you!
I'm tired out just reading about your activities. Slow? I think not.
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