All the hard work is done and like all us Ironman wannabes, the sweat sure did roll off the body these past two weeks. I was both mentally and physically exhausted after my last workout sunday night and was overcome by the emotion of it all. When I was running the fifth and last repeat mile I knew I was about to complete nearly 5 months of training that will take me into the battle against the clock at Lake Placid. I had a sense of joy and accomplishment just getting to this point and there is still 3 weeks to go before I toe the line. Like with all things that take a while to accomplish, you need to cherish the small victories along the way and I was enjoying having reached this point. Some of the highlights of the past 2 weeks of training included a sub 7 min mile pace 5k I did last saturday, (I have not been sub 7 in a long, long time) the monster set, the always tough 2 x 30 min Z3 Tempo ride and lastly the 5 x 1 mile repeats with 3 minutes rest between miles at best sustainable effort.
It's now TAPER time! Time to get the mind and body ready for the 140.6 mile journey. For me that started with a nice massage today at Elements Massage in Acton, MA and it sure felt good to get all the soreness worked out. I scheduled another four days from race day and look forward to that.
I started yesterday with a quick 35 min open water recovery swim and had no workout today so it feels a little funny having almost two days off from training. With that I need to watch what I am eating as these past two weeks allowed me to have lots of calories. I don't need to add ten pounds of weight back before race day so as the TAPER acronym says above, I need to embrace the free time and adjust my calorie intake. The biggest thing I will do now besides doing some specificity training is to rest and recover. I need to get as much sleep as I can as that is when the body recovers best. I am confident in the work I have put in and look forward to racing Ironman Lake Placid.
Below is a recap of the last two weeks of training and you can view the results at Garmin Connect
Monday Jun 23, 2014
Swim
Zone RDuration: 00:35:00
Open Water Recovery Swim
Swim at your perceived ZR pace in open water.Tuesday Jun 24, 2014
Bike
Zone 3Duration: 01:50:00
Tempo Ride (Z3)
Warmup:20 min into Z1
Main Set:
2 X (30 min @ Z3, 5 min @ ZR/Z1)
Cooldown:
To final ride time @ ZR/Z1 (as you feel)
**Keep cadence at 90 rpm throughout
Run
Zone 1Duration: 00:40:00
Z1 T Run (LAST mile @ Z2)
Run the LAST mile at Z2. The rest will all be at Z1.Wednesday Jun 25, 2014
Run
Zone 2Duration: 01:15:00
Z1/Z2 Run - AM
Run 43 minutes at Z1, then 32 minutes @ Z2. Descend the pace throughout the run and finish toward the top of Z2.Swim
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 00:50:00
Distance: 2600 yds
Speed Set Swim
Warmup:1000 continuous @ TT+10 sec
Main Set:
2 X (Best sustainable repeats of: 300 on TT+10 sec)
5 X 200 pull on TT+10 sec swam at TT+5 sec
Run
Zone 1Duration: 01:15:00
Z1 Run - PM
Zone 1 Run. Make sure you descend the pace by getting faster throughout the workout. Start at the lower end of zone 1 and work your way toward the top by the end of the workout.Thursday Jun 26, 2014
Swim
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 01:40:00
Distance: 4900 yds
Monster Set
Warmup/Main Set:o Pull 1000
o 9 X 100
o 4 X 200 Paddles
o 7 X 100
o Pull 600
o 5 X 100
o 2 X 200 Paddles
All sets completed continuously on TT pace + 10 sec ; all 100's & 200's completed at Best Sustainable Effort **Record average pace for 100's and 200's**
Friday Jun 27, 2014
Bike
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 01:30:00
Speed Work
Warmup:20 min @ ZR/Z1
Main Set:
8 X (2.5 min interval, 2.5 min recovery @ ZR)
**Use best sustainable effort through all intervals**
Cooldown:
to final ride time @ ZR/Z1
Run
Zone RDuration: 00:20:00
ZR T Run
Start your T run within 10 minutes after the bike ride. Run duration @ ZR with a cadence of at least 88 steps per minute.Saturday Jun 28, 2014
Bike
Zone 1Duration: 01:40:00
Z1 Ride
**Make sure you descend the pace by getting faster throughout the workout. Start at the lower end of zone 1 and work your way toward the top by the end of the workout. Keep cadence at 95+ throughout during base phase and 90+ during build phase!Run
Zone RDuration: 00:35:00
ZR T Run
Start your T run within 10 minutes after the bike ride. Run duration @ ZR with a cadence of at least 88 steps per minute.RACE! 5K Best Sustainable Effort Duration
Distance: 5 kmSunday Jun 29, 2014
Bike
Zone 2Duration: 05:30:00
Z1/Z2 Ride
Bike 236 minutes at Z1, then 94 minutes @ Z2. Descend the pace throughout the ride and finish toward the top of Z2. Keep cadence at 90+ rpm.Run
Zone 1Duration: 01:00:00
Z1 T Run
Start your T run within 10 minutes after the bike ride. Run duration at zone and make sure you descend the pace by getting faster throughout the workout. Start at the lower end of zone 1 and work your way toward the top by the end of the workout.Monday Jun 30, 2014
Swim
Zone 1Duration: 00:50:00
Open Water Steady Swim
Swim at your perceived Z1 pace in open water.Practice:
Sighting by choosing an object (house, car, lifeguard chair, etc) to swim toward, and lifting head slightly every few strokes to check courseTuesday Jul 1, 2014
Bike
Zone 3Duration: 01:45:00
Tempo Ride (Z3)
Warmup:20 min @ Z1
Main Set:
2 X (30 min @ Z3, 5 min @ ZR/Z1)
Cool down: To final ride time @ ZR/Z1 (as you feel) **Keep cadence at 90 rpm throughout
Run
Zone 1Duration: 00:45:00
Z1 T Run (1st mile Z2)
Run the 1st mile off of the bike @ Z2 and the remainder at Z1.Wednesday Jul 2, 2014
Swim
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 01:00:00
Distance: 3200
Speed Set Swim
Warmup:1000 continuous @ TT+10 sec
Main Set:
2 X (Best sustainable repeats of: 600 on TT+10 sec)
5 X 200 pull on TT+10 sec swam at TT+5 sec
Run
Zone 2Duration: 02:00:00
Z1/Z2 Run
Run 90 minutes at Z1, then 30 minutes @ Z2. Descend the pace throughout the run and finish toward the top of Z2.Thursday Jul 3, 2014
Swim
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 01:25:00
Distance: 4200 yds
Open Water Miles of Misery
Warm-up:o 2 X (50 kick/50 fist/50 free/50 pull/50 no kick)
o 4 X 50 no kick (speed dictated by need to stay afloat), 10 seconds between sets.
Main Set:
o 2 x 1600 at sustainable best effort (2 minutes between sets). **Record time for each....combine time for score, make sure the second one is NOT slower than the first**
Cool down: 2 X 100 easy as 50 fist, 50 free. 5 breaths rest in between sets 1 X 100 easy kick
Friday Jul 4, 2014
Bike
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 01:30:00
Speed Work
Warmup:20 min @ ZR/Z1
Main Set:
5 X (5 min interval, 3 min recovery @ ZR)
**Use best sustainable effort through all intervals**
Cooldown: to final ride time @ ZR/Z1
Run
Zone RDuration: 00:35:00
ZR T Run
Start your T run within 10 minutes after the bike ride. Run duration @ ZR with a cadence of at least 88 steps per minute.Saturday Jul 5, 2014
Bike
Zone 1Duration: 06:00:00
Z1 Ride
**Make sure you descend the pace by getting faster throughout the workout. Start at the lower end of zone 1 and work your way toward the top by the end of the workout. Keep cadence at 95+ throughout during base phase and 90+ during build phase!Run
Zone 1Duration: 00:55:00
Distance: 0
Z1 T Run
Start your T run within 10 minutes after the bike ride. Run duration at zone and make sure you descend the pace by getting faster throughout the workout. Start at the lower end of zone 1 and work your way toward the top by the end of the workout.Sunday Jul 6, 2014
Bike Zone 1Duration: 02:00:00
Z1 Ride (2 x 30 low cad)
**Make sure you descend the pace by getting faster throughout the workout. Start at the lower end of zone 1 and work your way toward the top by the end of the workout. Keep cadence at 95+ throughout during base phase and 90+ during build phase! **Insert 2 X 30 minutes at Z1 and a cadence of 60-70rpm during 2nd half of workout, with 5 min at Z1 and 90rpm between each**Run
Best Sustainable EffortDuration: 01:30:00
Speed Work
Warmup:30 min @ ZR/Z1 (as you feel)
Main Set: 5 X (1 mile repeats, with 3 minutes recovery between each)
**Use best sustainable effort through all intervals**
Cooldown: To final run time @ ZR/Z1 (as you feel)
