Back in the ’60s there was a TV show called “That Was The Week That Was” – TW3.
After my race on the 14th, when I had continuous discomfort while running for 7 miles/80 minutes, I felt very frustrated and angry knowing that I could have run faster/more, and that I was facing two more months of training like that and then six hours out on Ali’i and Queen K, I resolved to call up the Urology department and use my history and charm to see if I could get the needed surgery moved up ideally to the week of Aug 23 (this week). I connected with a sympathetic, understanding, and competent nurse named Holly, who took on my needs and secured a time slot for August 24. Great! I’d lose 3-5 days of training, and could get back to business before I left fo CO. Then, WTC and HI conspired to postpone the race once again. I saw this as fitting in with the Grand Plan for ME.
Now, I don’t have to feel bad losing time to the bladder stone surgery. I found out about the postponement on the way home from our final Mountain Goat ride of the summer (52 mi/5600′ in 3 climbs @ Mt St Helens on a perfect day). I realised immediately that I no longer needed to bike another 2.5 hours, run 2.5 hours or swim 1.5 hours over the weekend. THAT felt great. And over the next 24 hours, I was able to transfer all my travel and lodging to a February time slot (details TBD). I turned next to figuring out my macro training plan:
Aug 20-Sept 12: Get bladder fixed, focus on run durability, i.e., run 36-48′ daily, with Zwift and lowland rides as desired/possible, and swim a few ties with Cheryl. Increase body work if possible. Get weight up above 147# while maintaining good hydration.
Sep 13: Load up a 12 week HIM plan in prep for La Quinta 70.3 in Palm Springs Dec 5.
Dec 6-10: Recover, return home.
Dec 11, start IM prep, 8 or 9 weeks.
Mid-Jan: Travel to HI, stay with Scott D & 2 other LP KQers from his June camp.
Feb 3-13: move into beachside condo
Then go skiing!
All of my training travel anxiety melted away – I won’t have to rush from CO to HI, I can train for my next two races without any bladder discomfort, and I can use the HIM training block as a perfect springboard for a shortened long-course build.
There are several training issues which arise from this, none of which I need to resolve immediately:
- With my knees and bladder (hopefully) feeling great, how much walking do I need to do while run training during the HIM block?
- How do I manage long rides and swims during the Dec/Jan 6 weeks I will be in Pac NW?
- HIM is the distance I have least experience with. I anticipate bike training to involve a couple of hour-long Zwift races a week, with a 2.5 hour “race pace plus” effort on the weekend (for me that would be 0.81-0.84 IF). Swimming to be 3x/week, a hour each. Running to be 5-6 x/week @ 30-45′, with one “longer” run a week.
- Once I start the IM build, I intend to add in race-focused walking during each run workout, to prepare for the inevitable walking I will do on race day. I suspect that will not be 50/50, more like 70/30 run/walk time split. That gives me an 11’/mile pace while training. On race day, discounting to a six hour (5:53) marathon, that translates to running @ 12:30’/mile while walking 16:30′ miles. I think that’s a good, conservative target. Going along with 2 hours for Swim/T1/T2 and 7:30 for the bike, I end up @ sub 15:30 hours on race day, a respectable goal considering what I’ve done the last three times I went there.
I’m willing to consider a more ambitious goal if the 70.3 and subsequent training point in that direction. But for now, that’s where I’m aiming.
Final comment, on Body Comp…pulling the plug on serious IM training the past three days (“only” an hour a day over the past three), I have my weight back @ 147#, with 58.5% H2O, 5.8% BF. Precisely where I would like to be during training.