Feeling Better...I think

I think I am feeling better, although some soreness Monday morning after the weekend. No big workouts, just routine work pre-Ironman Hawaii. Here's how the last few days' looked

Thurs:
Work: Then
Swim 2500 meter (5x500)
Ride off swim, 50 miles. Steady Z2 Power with 50 min Z4 (306W) rpm 65. This felt great as my HR remained no higher than Zone 2 throughout TT.

Fri:
am: Swim 4000 meter (4x1000/60 descend each)
Run off swim, 12 miles, progression run.
First 3 at 8:10 per mile pace. Next 3 at 7:20 pace. Next 3 at 6:40 pace, Final 3 at 7 min pace.
Final 6 miles, incorporated a strong interval set 4 X (3min x 2min x 1min) Took equal rest on the first 2 sets then realized I would not get in the 4th set before the end of the run. So, dropped the rest to 1/2 of the interval length on the final 2 sets. This is a good interval workout. Progressively harder from the 3 min to the 1 min. Then, after the 1 min and short rest, you move right back into the next set and the 3 minute interval again. Repeat this 4 times and you'll be feeling it.
pm: On call, worked the nice 16 hr shift, 4pm to 8am saturday.

Sat:
Woke up at 1 pm after a 5 hour refreshing sleep, ate my second breakfast.
Ride 60 miles 3:30 on rolling hills. Rode with Jason Lester. The workout was to run 18 miles about 3 hours after bike. This however wasnt going to happen as my ride finished up at 6 pm. The pace and tempo of ride was solid however, mid Z2 for the entire distance. So, not the greatest idea, but forced to move 18 mile run to after tomorrow's time trial shorter ride. Its not the distance of riding before the run that concerns me, its the run following a Z4 time trial.

Sun:
Ride 40 miles: Trainer as it was cold and rainy. Maintained Z2 watts at 80 rpm 45 minutes. Then 45 min TT at Z4 watts and 65 rpm. This is not easy on a computrainer. Unlike the roads, on a power trainer, there is minimal dead spot allowed in the upstroke on the pedal. On the roads, a noticable dead spot does allow for a few milliseconds of rest on each rotation. On the trainer, the constant pressure on the wheel prevents this for the most part. If you allow any lengthy dead spot to occur, your cadence starts to drop, then its very difficult to turn over the crank in zone 4. So, yeah, I think time trialing on a power trainer, using my SRM to assure proper power zone, is more difficult than the road.
Run 18: Out first 3 in 8:20 with Jason Lester. Next 6 miles at 7:09 pace average as I got dumped on three times by downpour rain. Looked like a wet rat at the turn around. Coming home, the storm passed and skies cleared. Next 6 miles right on 41 minutes (6:50 pace). Final 3 backed off a bit to 7:05 pace to finish up. So, 18 in 2:11...pretty happy with that. Some bilateral hamstring soreness of course, final 6 miles. Today my left fibular head up by my knee sore, as well as right shin. Presumably these are from sloshing in the mud on the trail when I was getting rained on as I remember quite a bit of slipping on my foot strike. I am sure these aches and pains will fade out by tuesday's interval session.

So, leading into my big week this week, good set of workout sessions without over-doing it.
I did manage over 200 on the bike last week (5 rides, 4 time trials), 37 miles running (3 runs) and 8500 meter swimming (3 swims). This past week was a light build to get ready for the upcoming week. Hopefully, my 14K swimming, near 200 miles riding, and 50 miles running in 16 workouts this week will get me fine tuned 2 weeks out from Kona.

I started thinking about Kona during my long run this weekend. That emotional component is starting to form for me as I went through my 2006 race, and thought out that final 6 miles as I ran in with Ann. Going through the race in the final half of my long run allowed me to get back to the place I need to be, emotionally in preparation for the race. I have run 1 out of 3 Kona races healthy and am hoping to have a reasonable day this year. Conditions of course will dictate that. I am seriously considering pushing my HR up a notch on the marathon this time. My latest long run, I was able to sustain high Z3 HR for the final 15 miles, and the 30K at ITU was in a similar HR zone. This is about 10 beats higher than I have run in IM events and these last 2 long runs have built my confidence that I can run at a higher HR for a sustained period without completely falling apart. This may my answer for a sub 3:20 marathon split at Kona. Who knows, I'll make the decision in real-time....on the race course....and live with it.

Ann stronger than ever. Her long run was dead on 7:30 pace for 18 this week, and her time trials on the bike are at her highest sustainable watts all summer. She cruised her 45 min TT at the end of the week at nearly 22 mph and felt great. Her training since Arizona has paid off and regardless on how it falls together for her on race day, she had a great season, especially her breakthrough race at ITU a few weeks back. You can't help but get strong when you are consistently putting together 15 workout weeks....week after week after week for several months. The frequency of workouts without over-training has helped her tremendously. Still, her longest ride since IMAZ training has been the 75 miles at ITU. For me, I've done 2 X 80 milers pre-IMAZ, and of course 2 X 100+ milers (IMAZ, IMWA) over the past 12 months, and besides that, 75 miles at ITU and the remainder of my long rides havent been over 70.
Yet...both of us get stronger.

OK, here lies my rant:
Quality vs Quantity. Train long and slow and you will likely race slow....Train long and hard and you'll burn up and race slow. I'll take the quality of the workouts over quantity every time.

It's about finding the balance.