Kona taper: day four

I had a single workout today consisting of an 8+ mile run.  A little warmup, then 4 miles around open marathon pace (6:20-6:25) then 4 at IM marathon pace (7:10-7:25).  I felt pretty good and legs felt nice.

Went on to my first day as a special ed para at a school in Longmont - I am very happy to have a job to come home to.

Then a massage pre-flight and a little packing.  Off to HI in the am!

My car after leaving FAC (flatirons athletic club) this am.  First snow of the year.

Kona taper: day three

Did a little of all the sports today.  First workout today was a nice 3,500 yard swim again.

I am a huge procrastinator as a swimmer, so I often leave my swim fitness dormant until the last possible minute.  I started swimming consistently about 4 weeks ago.  I never swim in the off season, and often start swimming maybe a month to six weeks before an Ironman/70.3.  I tend to use my background as a swimmer and life-long time in the pool as a crutch to get me through the first leg of the race.  My approach is to have just enough to get through the distance in as close to an hour as possible.  I think that my time is better spent riding/running and that the investment in those sports will make for better overall finish times in the end.  Ride and run more = better return on investment...  I have had tons of people tell me I am wrong, but it has worked so far.  I will swim much more before the two planned full dist. races next year though - I will have a better idea about this theory then.

Second workout was a 31 mile bike averaging my target Ironman wattage - 205.  This puts me at about 3 watts/kg of bodyweight.  I have never raced ironman with a power meter, but I think this is where I want to target.  I made more adjustments on the bike today that will hopefully make me a bit more comfortable in HI.

Third workout was a 4 mile run.  I started out at 6:56/mile and built to 5:56 per mile.  My foot was quite sore today... It has usually been sore the day after I don't run on it.  I think this is a sign that there is healing and scar tissue still hanging on to the injury site.  The more consistently I run, the better it feels.  I will massage the heck out of it next week as I will only run twice leading up to the race.

And finally, I start a job tomorrow!  One day to get my feet wet before I leave for ten nights.

Before our morning trip to Safeway

Kona taper: day two

Got some stuff done today and I feel good about it.

First workout was a 3600 yard fairly hard swim at 5:30 this am.  Then took my kid to his montessori and was off to fill out paperwork for a job I just got.

Second workout was an all out 22.5 mile tt.  I changed the position a bit with some new flatter bars on my P3 and want a few rides on it to see how it feels/make some adjustments.

2 more days until I leave.  I need to start getting some stuff together.

New setup (minus wheels) - flatter bars.  I'll try and find a before pic somewhere.

Kona taper: day one

Over the next week and a half, I will do a quick run down of my daily workouts leading up to this years Ironman World championship race.  I could end up having a great day, or could end up having a horrible one.  With the daily taper log, I'll be able to contain some excitement as well as document the last few days of training and active recovery that I have done leading up to this.

No matter what, I think that this years race will be an interesting one.  Breaking my foot ten weeks ago really threw everything off and I have been scrambling to get back as fast as possible.  I took the minimum amount of time off (in a boot) and got back to my full training mileage within 3 weeks out of the walking boot.  I don't think this was not the smartest thing to do, yet I am happy I did.  I have gotten back quickly and feel pretty confident about completing the race.

No matter what happens, I feel like I have learned a lot from this.  I don't however think that this injury will be totally gone for quite some time.  There is quite a bit of scar tissue buildup that still causes some soreness, as well as causes some hesitation.

Today's workouts were split into two sessions.  The morning session was a 9 mile run on the treadmill.  I did a 10k build starting at 9.0mph building to my open marathon pace and ending with a 9.7mph mile.    The 10k on the tm felt relaxed and in control at just under 40 - 39:45.  The last 2.8 miles were done at my goal ironman marathon pace - 7:15

I followed that run up with 1500 in the pool. 500 warmup followed by 10x100's on 1:20 coming in on 1:07 to 1:10.

The second session of the day was just a 2000 meter swim.  No real specifics - just got in the time.


Happy birthday to my Grandpa Dick - He has been gone well over a year and a half now, but has been with me through all of this I believe.  The guy loved competition, and I have to credit him with my competitive personality.

Photo from May, 2011.  A few days after my Grandmother passed away.