Final Build Complete!!! I am fully "constructed" for my first Ironman race. Now there's just recovery week, a race, recovery again and 3 taper weeks. Piece of cake! Name of the game now is injury prevention, and don;t lose too much fitness. I'm finding that with my deep base, even dropping a run here and there and cutting back has little impact.
By the Numbers:
Swim: 3h52m, 16,500
Bike: 12h21m, 266mi
Run: 5h03m, 40.9mi
TOTAL: 21h16m
CTL: 167.3 (peaked on 8/02 @ 169.1)
Bike CTL: 77.2 (peaked on 07/06 @ 77.9)
Run CTL: 48.1 (peaked on 7/31@ 50.7)
Swim CTL: 40.6 (peaked on 08/01 @ 42.6)
The Good:
Bike is feeling very strong. My 102 mi ride Saturday didn't feel nearly as hard as previous long rides. It was cooler and the wind was lighter, so that helped a lot. I paced it a little more evenly too. What even better was that I still felt pretty strong on Sunday. In the past I would have been crushed. Some of that may be less or more importantly, my overall TSB for run/bike combined was lower. So I think I raised the bar a little on my bike this last build since June. It was more about specificity and focusing on long rides rather than harder medium distance rides. I think that's more important going into my first IM. Build the confidence and get used to the saddle time. My run form feels really good. My 15 miler seemed almost too easy. I think running a 7:15 pace or better seems very doable at IMWI.
I also got in some much needed bike maintenance including a new 52T chainring, switching to the 11-28 rear cassette, a new chain and new der. pulleys. so I'm looking good now through the big day. I also figured out a way to get a very small bag with a 2nd tube, 2 CO2's and my multitool on my big without impacting aerodynamics.
The Bad:
I pushed the run a little too hard. I picked up a touch of Platar Faciitis on my right arch. I've had that feeling during some higher run volume weeks in the past. I dismissed it as minor, but it really became acute on my short run Friday and was still lingering Sat. even just walking around. As a result I bagged my Sunday run and decided to sit it out and dropped my run volume a little on the upcoming week leading to Steelhead.
Reflecting back at all the work....
My PMC really shows how deep my base is. I can drop the mileage on some of my runs and not impact my fitness much at all come Spet. 7th. It's something I'll keep in mind. The hard work is over, there's little to be gained my doing any more than necessary. I managed to get in a LOT of solid workouts and really build my engine the last 10 months... and really, the last 3 years and I could even say the last 9 years... or even 21 years since I started competing in sports in high school beginning with track & field my freshman year of 1993... and I could add one more layer with riding bicycles as a kid 10 years before that. Time to make that pay off. So every time I did anything athletic the last 30 years has brought me to this point.
Looking to Steelhead:
The positive of shutting my run down a day early and backing of, means that I'll be more rested than planned for Sunday. Not an "A" race, but maybe a "B+" race. Whereas Geode was more like a"B-". What kind of time do I predict.
Swim: Hard to call this one. It's usually challenging. Looks like a slight headwind pushing us out a little, so I'll say 29:30.
Transitions: I hear it's pretty long so 4:30 looks pretty typical....damn that's long!
Bike: BBS says 2:12 with the same 160TSS I rode at Kansas. It's flatter, so that's a 0.85IF, as opposed to 0.84. I think that's realistic.
Run: 1:20. It about as flat as Kansas and will likely be just a little less humid and marginally cooler. Figure I spent 10 seconds adjusting a shoe and probably paced a little uneven going out a bit hard. I'm only looking to run 4-5 second per mile faster. More than anything, just not slow down as much.
Where does that put me? Still 10+ minutes behind Stubleski...haha, that ship will sail right past me around mile 25-30 on the bike and never look back. He'll run 1:13-1:15 and crush all the amateurs. But with Iott's improved swim, that puts me right where he'll be. Possibly matching his splits the whole way. He rode 2:12 & ran 1:20 last year off a 33:xx swim in choppy water. He didn't have a good day at Racine, but he's always dangerous and I expect he'll show up ready for war. I'm looking forward to a good battle. So it's Round #2 then. We're both more fit, but I'm not as rested. Should be a really good one.
UPDATE: My total time would be 4:08-4:10. I'd love to break 4:10...just because. Also I forgot that Stubleski is in the next wave, so I should stay ahead of him until the run. Then he'll pass me doing a 5:40 pace like I'm standing still.
I'll be doing the race in the middle of a summer family vacation. Visit family in Michigan, then relax for a day couple days in West Michigan after the race. Maybe a beach day or a day trip north. Then our daughter starts kindergarten that Thursday.
Next post should be a race report.
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