Journey to Kona Day 145: Threading the Training Needle

I was excited on Tuesday to tell my coach about the training I'd been doing over the previous several days.  He appropriately threw some cold water on my excitement.  Within less than two weeks from completing an ironman, I'd put in a four day block of both volume and intensity, the likes of which I hadn't done in some time, if ever.  My coach properly admonished me for risking too much too soon, especially with my long term goal of Kona, which is what this year has been all about.  At the same time, I knew that I would be traveling to Baltimore for two days, and then babysitting my grandson.  I had a pretty good idea that the rest of the week would be light on training.  So, I chose to hammer myself going in.  That's what I call "threading the needle."  How'd it work out?

I was going to run long today, perhaps as much as 18 miles.  I have to admit, I was tired.  It didn't help that I went to bed at 2:30 am, after going to see my daughters improv show in town.  I slept in, but I was still tired.  Plus, there was definitely accumulated fatigue from the last three weeks, including the travel this week.  While my legs felt fine, within a couple of minutes of starting my run today, I almost felt like turning around and going home.  But I didn't.  Since I started late, it was already hot out, probably close to 80 degrees, with some degree of humidity.  Not Kona humidity, but still, it was humid and warm.

I ran slow, paying attention to maintaining my heart rate at MAF level.  I was definitely slow, but my legs felt fine.  No soreness, just slowness.  I ended up running 12 miles (2 hours and 8 minutes), which was a decent volume stimulus just three weeks after ironman Boulder, and four weeks prior to the Santa Rosa 70.3.

Tomorrow will be a cycling day, I'll listen to my body, as I always do.  My coaches concern was that I push myself over the edge and either injure myself or negatively impact my immune system.  I don't think that I've done that.  Have I pushed so hard that I'm not able to do the appropriate training efforts this week?  That's an interesting question, and I'll have to see how this week goes to answer it.  It can be difficult finding the right training stimulus without pushing over the edge.  I like threading the training needle.