It is hard to believe that it is now less than 40 days until Ironman Florida. I can’t believe it has been 10 years since my 1st and only IMFL. I am so looking forward to going back. This past weekend was our final recovery week before our final 2 serious build weeks. Recovery week for me, means 10-12 hours of workouts as apposed to the 15-18 hr build weeks. It’s just crazy how your perception of things change with regards to a long run or long ride. Less than 2 years ago, I was running 3 times per week for no more than 3-6 miles. 6 miles (twice around the campus at work) was a long way.
Friday:
Friday called for a Time Trial at the pool. The workout consisted of the usual 400yd warm up followed by a 3600yd time trial. The workout itself was kind of boring. No intervals, or sets, or repeat 250s, just lots of laps…144 to be exact. So, 1:12:00 later, I finished up and did a few cool down drills.
Saturday:
It was my turn to work the weekend again. No big deal, just the way it is in my industry. The only downer was that the heat decided to rear it’s ugly head one more time. This has been the hottest summer that I can remember. This time of year it’s usually about 80-85 tops in the later part of September. So when I walked out of work at 3pm for a 10 mile run, I was surprised that it was 97 degrees. It wasn’t hot like a Wal-Mart parking lot in Orlando in July, but it was pretty hot. So I headed off to the American Tobacco Trail to knock it out. The workout was not too bad. The plan was to run the first 8 miles at E-pace, and the the final 2 miles at marathon pace. I managed to keep 9:45 for the first 8, and then 8:45 for the final 2 miles. I can go much faster for 10 miles but that’s really not the point here. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to run at a much faster pace than you would ever see in your Ironman marathon, so no need to be knocking out 7-8 min miles.
Sunday:
Sunday was great. The high for the day was only mid 70’s (big swing from yesterdays 97). So I decided to sleep in until I woke up(10am). Man I haven’t done that in a long time. Since this is a recovery week, all we had on tap was a 50 mile ride. So after goofing around the house we headed out around noon. I kept hearing the mention of rain sometime over the weekend, but I’ve kind of gotten used to it not raining. Appears as though we are in a bit of a drought. Come to think of it, we have not been caught a single time in the rain on the bike this year…and we’ve been doing a lot of biking on the weekends. Must be a record. Anyway, the record officially ended with about 10 miles to go. First it started with a trickle that I wouldn’t really consider rain. Then it just kept getting harder and harder. It was nice though. The rain felt good to cool off a bit.
I did have 1 casualty. I just bought these Hammer flasks last week for the EFS shots, (still like them). Not sure what happened, as I was just taking a sip and putting it back into the Bento box. I just missed and it slipped away. Let the field tests show that this baby held up to a fall from 3ft high at 20 miles an hour. No spillage whatsoever. It wasn’t until the Dually Truck followed by a boat trailer and a Honda Civic each had their way with it, did the Hammer Flask finally explode.
Overall the ride was great. Like I said previously, a 50 mile ride is now my short ride and it just seems like a walk in the park. Since 112 miles is still a long ride for me, I am looking to push well past this next weekend. Next weekends ride is going to be long….real long. We are singed up for the TrySports Capital to the Coast ride on Saturday, Oct 2. This will be a 150 mile ride from Raleigh to Wilmington! Hopefully after 150 miles, 112 will be the new 50. Let me know if you’re doing this ride. I’m always looking forward to meeting new folks on the road.
Have a great week everyone!
