We arrived home late on Monday, one week ago. Cheryl repeated my story to all her friends. She always ended by saying, “It’s so great living with an optimist! He just doesn’t dwell on the bad news; he figured out what went wrong, how to fix it, and now he’s looking forward to the next race.”
Which is in six weeks. Five, now. OMG, another Ironman in 35 days?! Well, the real trauma in an Ironman for me, starts about mile 80 on the bike. And since that’s when my body just broke down and quit, crying out in the pangs of dehydration, I don’t really feel like I did a race. Oh, I suffered on for another 32 miles on the bike, and ten miles on the run, but those were NOT racing miles. They don’t seem to have taken any toll on me, once I got refilled from those two IV bottles, and a few days of eating and drinking extra.
So we snorkeled on Sunday, flew home on Monday, unpacked on Tuesday, and I went back to work on Wednesday. Tried 30 minutes of weight lifting in the morning. That didn’t hurt, or make me tired, so I tried running in the afternoon, after work. 3 and a third miles in 30 minutes. That went OK, so I went back to the pool for 38 minutes of swimming on Thursday. THAT went OK, too, so I thought, “Well, it’s not raining today, so how about a little bike ride?” Took a 2 hour spin down to Steilicoom and back. Felt super powerful, so I thought, why don’t I just get back into the game, and see what happens – no 2-3 weeks of recovery, just treat the previous ten days as a slightly long recovery week, and get right back into full-on Ironman training mode.
Which would mean two weeks of distance, intensity, and pretty much nothing except work, swim, eat, ride, run, sleep.
Friday, before work, I went back to the weights. No soreness or stiffness, able to do my usual program without any hesitation or despondency. After work, I hopped on the treadmill for an hour, including some strides, and 3 one mile efforts at a pace of about 6:30, with four minutes between at 8:40. Wow, no after effects from THAT, so Saturday, I looked forward to getting down to the Ft. Lewis bike ride, to put in 2-3 hours or more of some group dynamics.
Um, this is not West Hawaii. It RAINS here, in capital letters. About two inches during the time the ride would happen. So I hooked up my bike to the trainer, and cued the computer/trainer interface to project the video of the IM Arizona course, timed to my riding. I finished the 37.8 mile loop, but it took 2 hours and 26 minutes, 15 mph. In the race, it took me 1:50 or so, at 20+ mph. And THIS hurt, in the sense that I left a pool of sweat on the deck floor. Threw in another 33 minute transition run afterwards, and lost two pounds during those 3 hours, despite drinking 80 ounces of fluid. But it felt so good to SWEAT! I think sometimes that sweating is a key thing in training. In other words, what I’m training is the ability to sweat and keep going; the endurance and the muscles and the heart and the brain are all secondary (in this warped view of the value of training.)
I still wasn’t tired or sore, so I have gone off in search of the limits here. I ran 71 minutes/8 miles Sunday morning. And then today, swam for an hour, 2800 meters, with some good hard efforts thrown into a general race pace set. In the PM, went out for a 40 minute time trial, and a 35 minute run. Still do not feel drained, or anywhere near exhaustion, much less sore. All I feel is energized and eager to capitalize on my bonus training day in Kona. I should be feeling the effects of the last four days, but I don’t, so I will just keep rolling and see if I can get a full 19 hours of training in this week. Recovery bike day to and from work tomorrow, maybe some weights in the evening. Another 1 hour treadmill session, trying to do 5K in under 20 minutes on Wednesday. A six hour bike ride on Thursday, a 4200 yard swim on Friday (IM distance), and a double run on Saturday, total 2 hours 30-40 minutes. The whole nine yards, really.
I seem to be at a level where I can do three hours a day, 4 days a week, with another longer day for biking, and two shorter days for recovery. That amazes me, but it should be no surprise what 10 days of recovery mode training will do for one’s mental outlook and reserve capacity. Have to keep that in mind for this one last race this year.
If I’m still in a good mood on Sunday, I will rally up for another go around next week. Then a week backing off the distance, and throwing in some substantial race pace efforts in the run and bike. A final week of trimming back and going at least 14 hours all at race pace, and a week of resting taper. And then the race.
There is no road map for how to manage two IMs six weeks apart. It really is such an individual thing at this point, listening carefully to one’s body, and walking the line between keeping things tautly drawn, and not snapping the bowstring. Everyone will have a different breaking point. For some, they might need to do nothing for two weeks, then a week of shorter, intense work, and week of a little longer, more race pace work, and then two weeks of taper. Others, like me, who blew the first race, have a heightened sense of motivation, and an well-tuned and rested engine, ready for more pump priming. Every year, there are a few pros who have blown their Kona, dropping out on the run, and then powering up quickly for Florida in 4 weeks, or AZ in 6, to win the race or otherwise redeem themselves. So the possibilities for success have been demonstrated. I’m going to just go with my gut (the George Bush school of Ironman training?) and pay very close attention to the little signs of impending tiredness or soreness, and not be afraid to back off right away.
There is so much more margin for error in the IM Arizona, compared to Kona. The weather will be cooler, drier. The bike will be way easier, with about a third as much climbing. And the run, three loops like the bike, is held in the cool of the evening, in the shadow of some big buildings, and trees, and with lots of spectators every which way, all the way to the end.
I’ve got to be patient with the training for the next 3 weeks, and know that it’s all I need at this point. Rest at the first sign of exhaustion, stop if any little tweaks appear in the superstructure. Sleep, eat, work when I can.
And spend time with family. Cheryl and I are going to Walla Walla this Friday for parent’s weekend at Whitman. Running in the wheat fields, swimming in their pool, and biking with the cycling club are part of the agenda. Another Road Trip!.