Crunch Time, Part 2

"It doesn't get any easier; you just get faster." -Greg Lemond, winner of the Tour de France: 1986, 1989 and 1990.

The above chart shows my training hours for the year so far. That’s higher than a typical year, but I had thirteen months since Ironman Wisconsin to prepare for Kona, and I wanted to stay physically and mentally engaged. So I raced Ironman Arizona on April 9th, the Boston Marathon on April 17th, and Ironman Coeur d’Alene on June 25th. (The two Ironmans were the unfinished business I alluded to earlier; more on them in a later post.)

This is my third Ironman build cycle of the year, and has been the easiest, in terms of few nagging aches and pains. This shows that the body will adapt to stress, given appropriate and consistent training intensity, proper recovery, and some good coaching.

Last week, I noticed fatigue during my swim and bike workouts Friday and Saturday, but this was to be expected due to the increase in run volume and intensity. I felt strong during the long run Sunday, going 17.7 miles in 2:20.

This is the final week of the build phase, and if last week was a grind, this week is even more so. The zone 3 and 4 intervals are slightly longer, the Saturday ride is Iron-distance, and the Sunday run will be over 20 miles at Ironman pace. Here is the current week’s schedule:

Monday: Rest day (Hit the Easy button.)

Tuesday morning: Swim 1 hour, technique and intervals.
Tuesday evening: Run 70 mins., including two 20 min. tempo intervals.

Wednesday morning: Computrainer ride, 60 mins., including three 10 min. Z4 intervals.
Wednesday evening: Weights, 1 hour.

Thursday morning: Swim 1 hour, technique and intervals.
Thursday evening: Run 60 mins., including 30 min. at tempo.

Friday morning: Swim 4000m, including 3000m at Ironman goal pace.
Friday evening: Computrainer ride, 40km.

Saturday morning: Bike 180km, followed by 20 min. transition run (immediately after the bike).

Sunday morning: Swim 1 hour, technique and drills.
Sunday morning: Run 2:45 aerobic pace.
Sunday evening: Weights, 1 hour (optional).

The Monday following will be a welcome rest day, for sure. Sleep on Sunday and Monday nights will be crucial for recovery from the weekend’s efforts. Next week, the taper phase begins, with a corresponding reduction first in run volume, then bike volume. There will be a temptation to increase beer volume, but that will have to wait, until Sunday, October 22 :-)