I went a little "off script" and decided that my fitness just wasn't where I wanted it for a proper taper. So I kept the mileage up and in particular added a 2nd longer ride taking advantage of the awesome weather. it seems to have paid off and I had a awesome interval ride indoors Sunday where I nearly matched my best 20' power without even feeling like I was pushing it that hard. Set a 30' power record. It really surprised me. But shouldn't have been a total shock as I set a 5' power record last week. But I expected to be a little more flat.
What I learned is that maybe sometimes, I need more Z1ish recovery rides late in a week, rather than trying to force Z2 and not being fresh enough to really push the harder interval rides. I also realize what I already knew, that long rides are critical. Not necessarily 4+ hour rides, but at least some 3+ hour rides with a lot of it at tempo. Basically getting in some solid 180-210TSS efforts 1-2x a week. Bury yourself a little in terms of energy system and some leg fatigue. But your body adapts and you recover faster the following week.
This week I'll dial back the volume but keep up the intensity going in to the race week. I'll do a couple bricks if possible. But honestly, I've never had any issue running well off the bike... at all. I actually run way too fast. But my legs always feel pretty good. Even yesterday after a solid 0.93IF ride with lots of Z5 efforts, I got off and jumped on the treadmill and 10mph was no problem, I added incline*** to make it harder and take some load off the wimpy little motor it has.
***Sidenote - adding incline on a treadmill reduces it's load up to around maybe 5-6%, then the motor has to perform dynamic braking to slow you down. In case you cared. Set the treadmill at a 5-7% incline and step on it. Notice the belt freewheels and you can start walking on it. They make treadmills with no motor that operate specifically this way.
I'm feeling more encouraged about Trizou. the only thing holding me back is my 166lbs. Not fat, but not the 161-163 where I've race at before. Oh well. I'm not stressing about it. Too much stress outside of training and October is still 6 months off.... and my other coaches at TBC are apparently falling apart in terms of running. So it might end up being a drag race to T2 that a brutal 26.2miles of survival. Which, lets be honest, pretty well describes any IM and Kona in particular. But I think I can hold power over 300W for 30 minutes and set a very fast time. Enough to get to the line 1st? Depends on who shows up and what kind of bike/run form they have. Maybe a fish that can bike then run at least 6:00 pace will show up, you never know.
By the numbers:
Swim: 11,000y, 2h31m
Bike: 241mi, 11h28m
Run: 39.5mi, 4h51m
TOTAL: 18h49m
TSS: 1212
I think this about matched my highest TSS and total hours so far this year. So not a taper by definition. More like a desperate attempt to make it an A- race and get some much needed fitness in. Plus it's about looking ahead at races like Racine, Pigman and or course Kona.
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