I’m finishing up my rest week for March before kicking it into high gear for a bike focused month in April. I will have finished March with over 60 hours of training, with even more scheduled for April. With over 5 months until Ironman, I am really starting to get excited about the possibilities. Last year, my first year of racing, I did not train nearly enough for how fast I was trying to go in my two half-iron races. This year, I’m close to doubling my training, and I have started much earlier then last year.
I just realized that the Pigman half-iron race is week later this year, which means I might be able to fit it in as a final race check-up before Ironman. If I race Pigman, I’ll still have two full weeks of rest and recovery before Ironman, and I can always back it off a little during the Pigman race if need be. That’s how excited I am right now, looking for a way to fit another race in to take advantage of this huge investment in training. I’m already planning my off season or winter training routine. My wife and I both took advantage of the end of the season sales and picked up some cross country ski gear (skate style). I managed to get out 3 times before the snow melted and wow, it’s a lot of fun and a great work out.
Gear
What fun would it be to train for Ironman without buying lots of gear and toys? I know in my last post I said I had most everything already purchased, and I do have the big ticket items done, but there are so many little things out there. My Garmin Forerunner 305 started giving my problems last week. The start button was sticking, and it always took way longer to acquire satellites then my wife’s 305. I wanted to upgrade to a 310xt to get power meter support, so I went ahead and purchased that tonight. I already like it over the 305 in the few short minutes I’ve had it out of the box, although the clip charging cable is kind of finicky.
While I was at my favorite store, Endurance House, I also picked up a pair of Tifosi Scatto sun glasses. These sun glasses have the variable tint lenses, and are a smaller frame size to fit my small narrow face/head. I think I’ll really like the variable tint, as I do a lot of my workouts in the evening, where you have the setting sun hitting you right in the face followed by an increasing dark sky. However, I still like to have the glasses on, especially on the bike to cut down on the wind in the eyes.
I’m looking at another piece of high tech gadgetry to help with training which will be the subject of a future post. I found a local shop that is an Authorized Argon 18 dealer, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to get a few replacement parts I need. Also working on sizing up a set of race wheels.
Training
Swim, bike, run, what else is there? Swimming is going pretty well, I’m about as fast as I have ever been but I’ve discovered the occasional session with good form. For me, good form doesn’t mean faster, but less work. Not that I’ve abandoned all hope of going faster in the swim, but this year it’s more about endurance then speed.
On the bike, I feel like I’m doing really well, but it’s hard to tell since I didn’t have a Power Tap last year. I did manage to get outside once when it was warm (yeah, I’m a fair weather rider only) and recorded a NP of 217 which matches up with my FTP of 215 from the trainer, so I’m pretty happy with that. Once I can get out on the IM loop I’ll be in a better position to gauge how my fitness really is since I rode it so often last year. One thing I have noticed is that my heart rate is much lower on my longer rides compared to February which is a good inidcator that my fitness level is improving.
Surprisingly my running is going really well, on account of all the biking I’m doing I guess. I’ve only been running 3 times per week (45min and 2x1hr) and I’m up to running 8.5 miles in an hour, and 8.3 in an hour off the bike. I’m still having little bits of pain, not while running but afterwards that have me a bit concerned. I was hoping to run the Madison Marathon with my wife, but I think I will stick with the half marathon to keep the total miles on my legs down (yet I want to sneak in an extra half-iron race).