Journey to Kona Day 207: On the Ledge

I went to bed last night around 10pm.  Whenever I awakened, I just went back to sleep.  I finally got up around 9 am this morning.  11 hours of sleep was just what the doctor ordered!  I also kept thinking about the fact that I was literally on the ledge.  I had given some consideration to working out today, but I knew better.  Both my father and my coach had told me to rest.  In fact, I had been telling myself to rest.  Tomorrow, my wife and I will begin a week long babysitting gig, and I'll definitely need my energy.  So, today, I will tiptoe off the ledge and work towards getting myself back on track.

The Ironman World Championship in Kona is 6 weeks from today.  I've pushed and prodded my body.  I prepared myself for Ironman Boulder and had an excellent result.  I pushed myself to be ready for the Santa Rosa 70.3 and also had an excellent result.  I've done more long swims, long bike rides and long runs (with the exception of my 20 weeks of 20 miles in 2016), than I've ever done since I started doing triathlons nearly thirty years ago.  I got too close to the edge on Wednesday, and my body immediately rebelled.

Looking back at my training logs for the past six months, it's clear to me that my local bike rides often make it necessary for me to put out wattage that's a little on the high side.  I reviewed my rides and found that it's very typical for my 2 minute wattage to average between 210 and 220 watts on a relatively relaxed ride.  On Wednesday I hit 235 watts (and 286w for one minute).  I let my heart rate come up to lactic threshold levels for quite awhile, at the end of a long ride, no less.  Of course, nine days earlier I'd done the same coming up an incredibly steep hill at the end of another long ride, and I'd survived that experience.  Like always, I've been pushing my limits, and I needed to find them.  I can only hope that my body's immediate response has allowed me to back off without undue harm.

Every time I woke up this morning, my brain immediately went to the thought that I was on the ledge.  When I finally got up, I knew that today needed to be a rest day.  I also checked some data to corroborate this.  My resting heart rate this morning was about 44 bpm.  This isn't too bad, but when I'm at my fittest, it drops below 40, and when I'm either sick or unfit, it has approached 50.  My HRV (heart rate variability) was 83, which is a little low.  Most importantly, when I stood up, my HR went from 44 to 86 (in about 20-30 seconds) and I felt very lightheaded. That's historically been an important sign for me.  I prefer, and feel better, when my HR only goes up to 76-78, and is not associated with becoming lightheaded.

I'd been feeling on the edge of getting sick for the past two days, that feeling is improving today, although it's not totally gone.  I'd gotten adequate sleep over the past couple of days, but last night really added on the necessary additional sleep that I was certainly craving.  Instead of cycling all day today, which was my original plan, I'm spending the day with my wife.  We went out for breakfast, and after I take another short nap, we're going to the movies.  Of course, because I still need my head in the right place training for Kona, we're going to see Brittany Runs a Marathon! Tomorrow we start our weeklong babysitting gig.  Hopefully, I'm already getting off the ledge!