My recovery needs always – ALWAYS – take my by surprise. Countdown to Kona starts this week – as of last Saturday, there are ten weeks until the race. The core of Ironman training is the last 9 weeks; everything else is just training to be able to handle the training of the last two months before the race.
I’d been hitting 16 + hours each of the last three weeks. The most telling stat that I am getting into full on Irondog training mode is my long run pace/heart rate. Today, I ran for 1 hour and 20 minutes, at a heart rate of 120, 8:29 min/mile, in the middle of a sunny day, 70+ with no shade. No shade, and no fade. So my running efficiency is rounding into form, as well as my heat tolerance.
Cheryl and I did a 3 1/2 hour tandem ride on Sunday, with temps over 90 towards the end of the ride. Then I did a 4+ mile run in 8:42/mile, HR of 130. Not bad with the sweat pouring off me in sheets.
So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I’ve geared down a bit. Just weights on Monday, today a lazy lake swim of 2500 meters in 52 minutes (the water must have been 76F), and that 80 minute quick long run. Tomorrow, just an easy bike commute. Then ramp back up with a hard swim Thursday morning, bike time trial Thurs PM, bike commute Friday, hard 3 hour bike with transition run on Saturday, and a race on Sunday. The Whiskey Dick.
We start the swim in the middle of nowhere – Vantage State Park along the Columbia river in the center of the state. Bike back to Ellensburg into the wind up the hill, and then run 10k through the town. Hopefully, it’ll be hot and sunny, and I can get some more Kona simulation in the bank.
That’s the thing about Kona. You always know what the conditions will be. Sunny, 85-90F, and probably some real sidewinds on the bike, followed by humid sea breezes on the run into the dark. No guessing, like at CDA, where it might be 98 one years, and 50 the next. Sun? Rain? Lightening? Yep, no guesswork at Kona, just the tropical paradise shirtless weather, year-round.
What is Whiskey Dick? It’s a mountain, an off-road area, a wildlife management area and, according to this web site, the 10th worst place name in the English speaking world. But where the moniker came from, I don’t yet know. Google is no help.
Anyway, I spent a lot of today sleeping. 45 minute nap after BREAKFAST. Another 30 minute nap late afternoon 2 hours after running. I’m hoping this intense rest mode will drive me up the efficiency scale, and prepare me for the two big pushes I’ve got planned in the next five weeks. First, Cheryl and I will do the Rapsody ride August 22-3. The Ride Around Puget Sound; 89 miles the first day, 81 the second. On a tandem, with the relentless 3-400’ hills of the Kitsap Peninsula. Total elevation gain, 9600 feet.
Then, two weeks later, high altitude camp back in Aspen. I intend to get in some serious biking during this 12 day effort, hopefully 500 miles or so. My goal is to make my biking as efficient as my running seems to be now, so I can carry the run pace I have here in Puget Sound into the Big Island environment.
It’s time to get serious about some goals for Kona. I’ve been vague about those goals, not nearly as specific as what I had wanted for the Ironman races in Idaho and Arizona. Course record at Kona is not on my radar screen, not this year. Winning seems unlikely as well. And with the wind and temperature variables, time goals can get shot down very quickly about mile 76 of the bike, somewhere between Waikoloa and the “Donkey Crossing” sign on the Queen K.
So for now, I’ll remain vague, and tighten up the times when I see the conditions of the day. But for starters, I would like to break 12. My previous effort there took 12:15. I spent way too much time in transitions, changing my clothes between bike and run. On the bike, my heart rate averaged 117 bpm; I did 125-129 at Arizona last year. And on the run, while my 4:22 was a personal best Ironman marathon at the time, I did walk a fair amount after mile 9. Just fixing those issues should net me 15 minutes, easy. On the other hand, the weather that day was about as good as it gets. Some actual rain on the bike, with overcast skies until after noon. Hazy filtered sun the rest of the day, so no real radiance after about 4:45 PM, two hours into my run; and the first 8 miles of the run features a lot of shade, right along the ocean.
Other things I’d like to do: finish top ten in my age group; finish high up (top five? top three? number one?) among Americans; swim under 1:18, bike under six hours, and run the marathon under 4:15. Let’s see, with transitions (they are long on the pier at Kona), that adds up to 11:45. That’s a good stretch goal, I guess.