Another high volume week...

Well after taking Sunday and Monday off to make sure I had no lingering issues with my right calf after Saturday's race, it's been another insane week - pretty much par for the course or the next month. Yesterday was a very solid 12.3 mile run (2 hours) - I took the first 6 miles really easy at a 10:00ish pace, then approached the last 6 with 3 miles easy and the last 3 miles hard - actually finishing with a sub 8:00 pace, which is great considering the mileage I'd put on to that point. I felt good at the end, and like I could keep going. If I can emulate something like that at Ironman - the first 16 miles of the run way easy, then make a strategy for the last 10 miles, I'll be golden. I am not doing all this damn run training only to walk the marathon because of stupidity.

Today is a 1 hour time trial on the bike, from which I'll gather some important metrics to put into place for Saturday's "race emulation" ride - 6 hours; which, depending on all factors, should get me close to 110 miles - where I'll be wearing everything race-day, eating and hydrating like race day, keeping track of caloric intake for studying later, and pacing myself like I will at Ironman. That means the first 15 miles stupid easy in the small chain ring, the next 25 easy, and finally after 40 miles I'll get into some kind of race pace. The object, of course, is to be fresh for a 30 minute run-off after the ride. Add to that a "race emulation" 1.5 hour continuous swim tomorrow, and I should be sufficiently fatigued by Sunday. 1.5 hours swimming - by yourself, not in a race environment - is boring as hell, so I'll have to find something to do with my mind for that long to keep my entertained. Hopefully I can open water swim it - doing that much in a pool is like running in a hamster wheel.

Anyway, back to work. Oh - is anybody watching the Tour de France? Holy crap! Go Floyd! Vive le Tour!