Journey to Kona Day 199: Eight is Enough

My week of training isn't over yet, but it's been a pretty solid five days.  Honestly, I can't remember having five days like this before, probably because I haven't.  My week began with a five and a half hour ride on Monday that had an intense climb near the end that actually required me to get off my bike and walk.  This definitely stressed my glute and groin muscles.  Tuesday consisted of a continuous ironman distance swim of 4,000 yards at a solid pace.  Wednesday was a 90 minute hilly run that began with my legs still feeling a little sore from Monday.  I swam yesterday morning and felt dog tired.  That was my set up for today's bike ride.  Most of my cycling between now and Kona will be on my 11.2 mile neighborhood loop (with 850 feet of climbing).  The goal today was to do the loop 10 times.  That would have been 112 miles.  It wasn't to be, but it was still a very successful ride.  I rode the loop on my tri-bike seven times before switching to my road bike because of a slow leak in my rear tire.  The hills were challenging, as they typically are, but I still felt pretty good during the seventh loop.  As I rode the loop the eighth and final time, I knew that I was done for the day.  Theoretically, I could have ridden another 20 miles if I'd ridden over flat terrain, but that wasn't really the purpose.  The reason that I ride this course is that the hills make for a great workout.

Seven loops on my neighborhood bike course had a total of 5879 feet of climbing over 79.6 miles.  Kona has 5814 feet of climbing over 112 miles.  By the time I'd climbed 6700 feet over 91 miles my legs were done.  It was also relatively hot out, with temperatures in the 80's.  While Newbury Park doesn't have Kona type humidity, it was a little on the humid side today, making for some decent Kona training.  I've previously done a seven loop ride after Ironman Boulder, and have set a goal of hitting 10 loops.  For today, eight was enough!  The other factor is that I'm supposed to do a twenty mile run on Sunday, and need to leave something in my legs for the run.  It wouldn't have done me any good to completely destroy my legs today.  Getting them super fatigued was plenty, especially in the context of Monday's ride.  Ultimately, the idea is to be able to ride the 112 miles in Kona and feel fresh enough to run a marathon.  The fact of the matter is that I'll be tapered and fresh for Kona, and I'm feeling pretty confident about how my legs can be on race day.  Eight was enough today.