Journey to Kona Day 14: Ironman Legs

I decided it was time for a longer run today, and ultimately realized that I had an opportunity to run on what I like to call “ironman legs.”  After 3 weeks of solid training, my legs actually are feeling better, but after a 2 mile warm up, I did a hard uphill and downhill run on a one mile hill with 8-10% grade.  The uphill is just hard aerobically, and the downhill is pretty brutal when run hard, which I did by going under 7 minute pace.  I then was able to put an additional 4.5 miles on tired legs that had some soreness to them. That’s what I’m talking about when it comes to “ironman legs.”  It’s really the thing we strive for since the run portion of an ironman is where you can lose the most time.  So, if I can pound on my legs and make them tired and somewhat sore, then realize that I’m running right around 10 minute per mile pace, I’m pretty happy.  That’s what I did today.

I’ve also realized that I really need to get more runs in this year right after biking, the so-called “brick.”  I’m not sure anyone really knows what the term stands for. Is it that your legs feel like bricks, or that doing these workouts are like building a brick wall that will be strong during the run portion of an ironman?  Either way, there is no question as to the value of such workouts in terms of training ones body to be able to keep running at the end of an ironman.

In my quest to always look for the life metaphor in my ironman training, how does today’s workout relate?  Practicing running with your legs are tired and sore is not unlike practicing living ones life when things aren’t going perfectly.  That’s pretty much a constant, because rarely do things go perfectly.  I’ve had my own struggles the past few months, and I think I find my best outlet with hard workouts and training.  It also keeps me focused on a goal that I can get my head around.  Having been in Kona this past October to cheer my friend Robert on, and to have had the opportunity to run on most of the course, I can start visualizing how it will feel on race day.  Visualization works best when you can simulate how you’ll probably feel.  And so it goes.  

Since I started training for ironman 10 years ago, running on tired, “ironman legs,” has always been one of my favorite workouts. As I prepare for Boulder in 16 weeks, and Kona in 34, nothing has changed in this regard.  Approximating the feel of the run leg of an ironman is good training, but even better visualization!