3 days till Ironman!

True to form, even 3 days before the Ironman I am tweaking my schedule rather than doing the training exactly as planned!

Remember this?  No?  My training log from DECEMBER! I haven't changed a bit!

I planned to do a 45 minute ride yesterday, but I had to adjust the height of my bike seat (I noticed an issue on Monday's ride) and change out my back tire for a new one (the other one was worn) and riding around the neighborhood testing the adjustments took so long that I couldn't get in a real ride before dark.  I didn't want to put the brand new tire on the trainer, because that wears down tires and is the whole reason I got a new one at all.  So I changed tomorrow's planned 20 min. ride + 15 min. run to a 30 min. ride + 10 mile run.  But I did tonight's 3 mile run with a couple faster portions as planned.  I know it was only 3 miles, but my "easy" pace was under 9 min./mile, when it used to be 10 min./mile!  And picking it up to 8 minute miles for a few minutes at a time wasn't even a big effort!  I FEEL SO READY!

Here I am heading out for my last run before Ironman!

Today I went down to the venue just to scope out the possibilities for Karin to set up a "base camp" for spectating.

Reconnaissance photo.  All this prime spectating real estate up
for grabs...but it's first come first served!

I am not checking in until tomorrow.  I can't wait!  there were so many people walking around with the Ironman backpacks, and walking their fancy bikes, and doing tune up runs!  I got out of the car, saw someone with an Ironman backpack on, and immediately teared up!

So you can imagine what happened when I saw THIS:

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN SWIMMING, BIKING AND RUNNING
TOWARD FOR A YEAR!  (And YES, I am crying while I type this.)

As I walked around the "Ironman Village" I could barely contain myself!  Last year when I volunteered, as I walked around the village, filled with tanned, toned Ironman athletes I thought, "Next year I will be one of you."  And now it is here!!!!

Closing entire streets just for me! (Okay, me and 2800 others.)

2 days from now this will be completely filled with bikes!

Peak vs. Taper

For comparative purposes, here are my workouts from my peak week of training (3 weeks before Ironman) and my final taper week (last week before Ironman).

PEAK WEEK WORKOUTS (Nov. 21-27):

Mon: 85 mile ride + 3 mi. run
Tue: Rest
Wed: 20 mile run
Thur: 1 hour swim (w/sprints)
Fri: 1 hour trainer ride (w/ hill simulation intervals)
Sat: 3 mi. run
      45 min. ride
      1 hour swim
Sun: (Work double shift)
       20 mile round trip bike commute 

TOTAL TRAINING HOURS: 15.75 hours

FINAL TAPER WEEK WORKOUTS (Nov 11-17):

Mon: 22 mile ride
Tue: 5 mile run
Wed: 30 min. swim (w/ sprints)
        45 min. ride (w/ sprints)
Thur: 30 min. run (w/ 2x3 min. @ faster than race pace)
         20 min. swim
Fri: 20 min. ride + 15 min. run
Sat: 20-30 min. practice swim (in wetsuit in Tempe Town Lake)
Sun: IRONMAN!

TOTAL TRAINING HOURS (Not including Ironman of course!): 5 hrs. 25 min.

5 DAYS TILL IRONMAN!

Yesterday I did a 22 mile ride on the IMAZ route.  It was very bittersweet, as I have spent so many hours on my bike on that route, both good and bad, and the next time I ride that stretch of road it will be alongside about 2300 other aspiring Ironmen.  I spent most of the ride thinking about my Ironman journey and what awaits me this Sunday.

As for what that is, I really have no idea.

This is what I do know:

I am excited about the swim because I will not have to count laps or time myself.  All I have to do is swim, turn around, and keep swimming till I get back to the dock.  The hardest part of long swims is keeping track of laps!

I am also not excited for the swim because the water is going to be freezing, my wetsuit feels like tiny rubber hands choking me, and I am going to be in that lake for a long time.

I am worried sick about the bike.  It is 3 times around a 37.33 mile loop.  That means that at some point, all 2300 athletes will be on that 37.33 mile stretch of road at one time.  When the slowest swimmer (me) starts their ride, the faster athletes will be way ahead.  But since it is 3 times around the same loop, the slowest person on their first loop and the fastest person on their second or third loop will all be out there together for a long time.  That is a lot of people, in aerobars, who mostly train alone, all jammed together in a very small space.  2300 people trying to go fast.  2300 people trying to slow down and grab water bottles from novice volunteers.  And 2300 people trying not to run over water bottles thrown from the bikes of the riders in front of them.

I can't wait for the run!  I love to run.  I can push through pain on the run.  And for some reason, based on my training experiences, I run faster after a bike ride than on a regular run.

I will cry at some point.  No, make that, many points.  Sometimes I almost start crying in training (not the crying-in-my-goggles kind of crying) just thinking about the awesomeness of what I am going to be a part of.

The race starts at 7 am.  I have created the following estimated finishing times based on my training:

                            ESTIMATED FINISH TIME RANGE FOR EACH EVENT
             
                           OPTIMISTIC........................................REALISTIC  

SWIM                       8:25 am..............................................8:45 am

BIKE     Loop 1          11:00 am..........................................11:30 am
             Loop 2          1:20 pm.............................................2:00 pm
             Loop 3          3:40 pm.............................................4:30 pm

RUN                          8:30 pm.............................................9:40 pm  

ESTIMATED RACE FINISH    Between 8:30-9:40 pm

These are a great estimates based on consistent training times, but Ironman is a long day (likely the longest of my life!) and anything can happen.

I have been preparing for this day for a year.  What will I do when it is finally over?!

Well, here are some things:

Sleep in and spend lazy mornings drinking coffee with Karin and Riley.

Watch a lot of Netflix.

Finally go watch a new-release movie in a theater.

Go on a month-long trip abroad with Karin, like we usually do in October (otherwise known, this year, as peak training time).

Bake!

Enjoy the holidays with no guilt about missed workouts.

Workout whenever and however I want.

No longer eat 2 breakfasts. (sad face)

For the next 5 days I have light workouts, lots of rest, lots of last minute details to attend to, and lots of carbs to eat.

Less than 2 weeks till IRONMAN!!!

Now that I am firmly entrenched in the taper, there are plenty of details to attend to!

The following things must be considered:

What food and drinks to put on the bike for race day.
What to wear on race day...for all 3 events.
What to put in my transition bags (swim-to-bike and bike-to-run).
What to put in my special needs bags (bags available half way through bike and run).
What to eat race day morning and how early to eat it.
What am I forgetting??? (That is a category unto itself, and the most stressful and time-consuming           by far)

The "simple" question of what to wear just below the knees, is mind-boggling!

I have 2 pairs of running shoes that I alternate, so I have to decide which shoes to wear on race day.  Naturally, this involves wearing each pair on long runs and trying to tell a difference.

Then there is the sock issue!  Do I just wear regular running socks?  Or compression socks?  Or compression sleeves (covers just the calf) with regular socks?  Of course, all of these options must also be thoroughly investigated during long workouts.  Because the fact is, things that are not an issue for 10 miles become an issue after 14 miles.

Moving above the knee, my choice of shorts and top will be based on sock choice, because, of course, they must coordinate.  Thus I have 2 complete outfits between which to decide, which, as you know, must both be worn on long runs.  (So obviously, the options must be chosen early, so that I can try them out on long runs.  It is, sadly, a multi-week process.)  Since I will be one of over 2000 athletes, and the majority of my run will likely take place after sundown, visibility is key. But comfort is the single most important factor!

After testing all of my choices, I finally settled on the running-socks-with-calf-sleeves combo, because I feel like the sleeves "hug" my legs, and after 10 hours of racing, I think I will really need a hug.  Once the socks were chosen the outfit chose itself.

But that is just for the run!

There is so much else to consider!  It didn't dawn on me until about a month ago that it would not behoove me to wear my regular one-piece training swimsuit under my wetsuit, because that would require completely stripping down and starting from scratch for the bike.  Modesty is not an issue (There is a women's change tent, and I am not shy), but it is not the most convenient choice.  So I finally settled on a bikini bottom with a quick-dry running bra.  I will leave the bra on all day, through the bike and the run, thus eliminating any extra changes.

So here is the way it will work:

For swim: Bikini bottoms and running bra under wetsuit.

For bike: Remove wetsuit.  Change swim bottoms for bike shorts.  Put bike jersey over running bra.  Put on socks and shoes.

For run: Change bike shorts for running shorts.  Change bike jersey for running top (keep running bra on), change bike socks and shoes for running shoes, socks, and compression sleeves.

Then there is the matter of what goes in my transition bags.  Everything I could possible need during the race must be in those bags!  Imagine finishing the swim and getting ready for the bike and realizing you have no socks?  Or getting ready for the run and realizing you forgot to pack Body Glide! (Body Glide goes on any areas susceptible to chafing, which, for me, means inner thighs when wearing running shorts.  If I forgot it, things would get really unpleasant around mile 11.)  So for now I am like Santa Claus; making a list and checking it twice.

Swim-to-bike-transition:

Helmet
Shoes
Socks
Jersey
Shorts
Chamois Butt'r (For chafing in the saddle areas!)
Sunglasses
Extra contacts (you never know what can happen in the swim!)
Contact solution (my eyes get so dry after swimming)
Sunblock
Arm warmers (90+ minutes in 63 degree water...I will be soooo cold)
Deodorant (self-explanatory, right?)
Extra rubber bands for hair
Gloves

Bike-to-run-transition:

Hat
Shirt
Shorts
Socks
Compression sleeves
Shoes
Vaseline (for toes, to prevent blisters)
Body Glide
Orange Mud (hydration backpack)
Garmin GPS watch
More deodorant (Trust me!)
More contact solution

Then, of course, there is my "nutrition strategy", which is impossible to overemphasize in a race of this length.  I have been perfecting this strategy for months, over the course of my long runs and rides, but there is still the matter of figuring out exactly what, and how much, to stock on my bike.

So there is a lot to think about.

But in terms of the actual physical part of my taper, things are going great!  In my extensive research about the best way to taper (How early? How much reduction in volume? How much reduction in intensity? How much focus on rest?) I came across a description I particularly liked.  It said a lot of athletes tend to think of the taper as a time of rest and recovery, and it is, but training is a series of cycles of build and recovery, and the taper is just another cycle.  So during the ideal taper, you should feel refreshed, and like your fitness is on an upswing.

That is exactly how I feel.  Every workout I have done during my taper has been great!  My 70 mile ride last week felt like nothing!  10 mile runs fly by!  Even my swims feel great (not to be confused with faster).  How good I feel seems to confirm that I am tapering correctly.

I can't wait for November 17th!

Garmin Update

For those of you who have been on the edge of your seat wondering what became of my malfunctioning Garmin, let me end your suspense.

Someone from Garmin replied to my letter immediately, with several suggestions for things to try, including downloading any available software updates and possibly a total reset.  When I unwrapped my Garmin from its nest of clothes it had worn itself out with its incessant buzzing and, mercifully, the battery was dead.  So I plugged it into my computer and, naturally, it booted right up as if there was no bad blood between us!

In the process of attempting to download the updates, I finally, accidentally, figured out how to delete the stored workouts on the watch.  I never figured out how to do it, so there are almost 2 years worth of runs stored on that thing.  The thing is, the problems I described in my letter were just the big ones.  Since July I have been having constant, smaller issues.  It took a good 3 minutes to find satellites.  It took forever to load the history (previous runs).  The battery drained very quickly; it would die by the end of a 7 hour bike ride.  But worst of all, the timer would start, but the mileage would shut off, so I would be at least 4 minutes into my run before it showed I had gone anywhere, completely throwing off my pace.

Even though I have not deleted a single run from my Garmin in the almost 2 years I have owned it, at no point did it occur to me that that may be the cause of all the problems.  So when I figured out how to delete recorded data, I went ahead and cleared the whole thing.

And what do you know?  Now it works like a charm! 

It's Taper Time!!!

Today my taper begins!  That means that this week's long ride is ONLY 70 miles!  And the long run is ONLY 14 miles!  Yay!

So the gist of tapering is that at this point, I have gained all the fitness I can, and for the 3 weeks (3 WEEKS TILL IRONMAN!) leading up to the race the goal is to rest and maintain the fitness I have gained.

So next week's long ride and run will be 50 miles and 10 miles, and the week after that I am practically doing nothing!

Ironically, the swimming volume doesn't really decrease much at all.

I am going to have so much free time!

Cards of encouragement from Karin's nieces!