Insanity's Conclusion

Whew. Well, the weekend is nearly here and the biggest week of training volume and intensity for Ironman has nearly reached its zenith. Lots of miles this week, including 12 solid miles at a 9:40 pace on Wednesday. But the steepest part of the climb is always just before the peak - today, full Ironman distance of 2.4 miles in the water. Then me and Mike are jumping in the car for a road trip out to the Mad City where tomorrow I'll cover 112 miles on the Ironman bike course with Mike driving along as support crew so he can get familiar with the bike course a bit for spectating and also give me as realistic an experience as possible so I don't have to load 'Blue up with 50 bottles or stop at every gas station or whatever. HUGE shout out to Mike for being the kind of guy that doesn't just agree to sitting in the car for 7 hours while I trapse around in lycra on the bike, but actually looking forward to it! It allows me the opportunity not everybody gets, to ride it with pseudo aid-stations built in and even a halfway-point Special Needs Bag emulation. So cool, that guy.

(At Ironman we get a "Special Needs Bag" at the halway mark of the bike and the run. It's a bag we stash beforehand with stuff we'd like at the halfway mark. On the bike I'll have a PB&J, extra tubes, tire, and CO2 cartridges, extra gel, an extra pair of socks and gloves, and maybe some other stuff. Just FYI.)

Wrap it all up with a tidy 45 minute run immediately after the bike, and we're officially into taper. Whahoooooo!

So stay tuned - I'll try and give you some kind of report after today's swim (if I can before travel), and we'll take pictures this weekend so you'll get all the details.