Tomorrow I have my weekly call with my coach. A few years ago, we switched from having him give me daily workouts to just talking once a week. These calls range from general training discussions to talking about my life's priorities. I have to say, with the way my life has been for the past several years, it's rarely a boring discussion. Three weeks ago, I wasn't really sure where I would be right now, and I've blogged about some training ideas that I've had to work around my unexpected injuries. The last 2 1/2 weeks have hopefully gotten me back on track.
Over the past 12 days, I've completed two 5 hour bike rides, both with a similar amount of total climbing as Ironman Boulder. I've also done a bunch of 1-2 hour rides, mostly at ironman effort, or slightly harder. My new tri-bike is comfortable, though I'm not as yet certain if I'm slightly slower on it than my previous bike (which brings an interesting question as to tradeoffs). Yesterday, I rode my new bike and then my old one on the same course. My new bike rides more smoothly, so less pounding on my body. My new position is also more comfortable, so I'm figuring I'll come off the bike feeling pretty good. Most importantly, I've done two 5 hour rides in the midst of regular training of 15 hours/week.
On Sunday I ran 2 hours and 40 minutes and felt fine. I was a little sore the next day and when I ran today, my hamstrings were a little tired. Today, though, was reaffirming. I ran 4.3 miles to the pool, swam for an hour straight, and ran 5 miles back, getting in a 90 minute run just a few days after my long run. My legs felt fine, and the swim didn't really seem to have much of an impact on my run, except for my feet feeling a little funny for the first mile of the second run. Last week ended up having 35 miles of running and 15 miles of walking, solid volume for me at this point in time. In many ways, I'm probably ready for Boulder from a run perspective, but I think I have at least one, if not two more long runs left in me before the race. The question is one of balance in regards to training. How will another long run impact my bike plans, and visa versa.
Finally, I've had no clue as to where my swim is, but yesterday and today went long ways towards answering that question. Back to back one hour swims (3,000 yards), using my new two beat kick and focusing primarily on form and comfortable pacing, has left me feeling pretty good with another 4 weeks of swim training at my disposal. I've put changing my swim form mostly on hold, as I'd rather focus on getting volume in right now and not stressing too much on my form. I can come back to that after Boulder and in my ramp up for Kona. I'm thinking that I have room for some over distance with my swim training. I could easily have kept swimming yesterday and today, and will need to decide how long is reasonable. My form seems to be holding pretty well for the hour, and I can tell when I'm losing it, but seem to be able to adjust and get it back. Since I'm not trying to break any records, adding swim volume shouldn't negatively impact my other training, and at the same time, should help me in my goal of coming out of the water feeling fresh!
I'm traveling this Sunday through Tuesday, so I'm thinking that this Friday and Saturday set up well for a long bike and a long run. Which one should go first? I was thinking that the weather might dictate, but the rain that was in the forecast for Friday and Saturday seems to have disappeared. Looking forward to the sage advice that my coach will give me to bring me into Ironman Boulder with my best chance to get on the podium for my age group!
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