last 7 hour training day…ready for that taper

So with 3 weeks to go, my last long, race rehearsal training day was yesterday…my second 6 hour ride followed by a 1 hour run…nice

…so one more week of ‘training’, although at a reduced volume and intensity…and then 2 weeks, of ‘maintenance’…just enough to not lose much fitness, as the body is rested to recover and repair prior to the BIG DAY

…I have to tell you, I’m ready for that taper 🙂

…our picture today is my last 90 days of total training volume per week

…I had that short little 10 hour week a few weeks ago, peeling back a few days with a sore throat/cough/congestion
https://irondaughterirondad.com/another-day-off-from-exercise-whats-with-that/

The last time that I did that 6 hour bike / 1 hour run race rehearsal day, was 3 weeks ago
https://irondaughterirondad.com/how-did-you-spend-your-saturday-112mi6hr-bike-6mi1hr-run/

Yesterday, was another tight day of power management on the bike:

• first 90 minutes: keeping power about 190’ish…really focusing on staying under 200 Watts…186 Watts / 190 Watts norm / 111 Heart Rate average…very relaxed…nice
• 4:30: keeping power in the 190-205 range…188 Watts / 197 Watts norm / 122 Heart Rate average…very manageable
• entire ride: 187 Watts / 195 Watts norm / 119 Heart Rate average / TSS 285.4 (target is under 300…so good) and IF .697 (target of .70, so bang on)…should setup a good run

Based on what I’m seeing on those long bike rides, my actual bike fitness may be higher than my last test, so I _may_ be able to increase that power a bit on race day, and because of the flatter Ironman Florida course, it’ll be easier to maintain a more stable power reading…yesterday was a very hilly, rolling course, so Watts a bit lower because of running out of gears and coasting some downhills at 40MPH+…there is that one bridge in Florida, but the rest is all pedaling all the time.

Following with a 1 hour run, I was still too fast…I’d ideally want to cruise that first 6 miles at a 10:30/mile pace…yesterday, once again I was closer to 10:00/mile…my target for the balance of the marathon…and it’s been HOT in Florida so far, so I’ll really need to watch that run pace on race day to give me any hope of not falling apart in the last 6-8 miles.

…so I pretty much have the bike and run plan dialed in for race day:

Bike:  the course and conditions will determine my final speed

• 180-190 Watts first 90 minutes…will look to 190-200 Watts on the power meter
• 190-200 Watts through the finish…will look for 205’ish Watts

Run:

• 10:30/mile for the first 6 miles
• 10:00/mile through the finish…and/or as long as I can hold that pace

Oh yeah…swimming 🙂

Rather than do a long 2.4 mile swim on Friday, I did another lesson with Coach Dinah, with a lot of focus on my stroke in the wetsuit.  Seems that it would naturally be easier with all that buoyancy, but last Wednesday when I put on the wetsuit for the first time since July 3, I found that my older, less efficient stroke pattern showed up again

…so Friday, after a series of form focused 100 yard lengths…and drills…I put on the wetsuit, and away we went trying to find that perfect stroke pattern, now encased in rubber, so lacking all the sensory clues that fire up when my stroke gets out of kilter

…the good news is that, although frail, we did find it…and I finished with a relaxed 1,000 yards continuous at 16 strokes/25 yards…in 20 minutes…so 2:00/100 yards…promising.

…so that same swim for 4,200 yards, would be a 1:24:00 Ironman swim…so can I keep that up for 2.4 miles?…we’ll know soon enough 🙂

…I’ll be testing it this week, with some longer swims in the 50M pool and open water in the lake

…of course in the race itself there can be rough conditions, current to deal with and over 2,500 other bodies…

With the bike and run volume and intensity tapering back at this point, I should be a bit fresher on the swim workouts…this week will be a telling week, to see if I can get in some confidence building swims…

…so we’ll see…3 weeks to see if I can get that swim to come together…always the optimist…promising 🙂