Well the weather is finally turning (from sun to pouring rain to snow to sun.....) and I'm starting to ramp up my volume and intensity a bit. I was starting to get a little anxious to get things going but have to remember it's a long season as my first Ironman (IMC) isn't until the end of August, but it just seems like it's time.
Swimming has been great of late I've swimming some longer swim workouts and feeling really comfortable and strong in the water. I still don't swim a lot of swim workouts I just don't feel like the payoff for the investment is big enough. My swims are just longer last year I was swimming 3500 - 4000 yds and I'd be pretty well gassed at the end, this year I'm swimming 4000 - 5500 yds and I feel pretty good at the end of the sessions and I'm swimming these much faster. I can say I am very focused in every swim workout focusing on different parts of my stroke and it really is paying off as I put it all together it's just taken some time but I think I've improved pretty quickly in just the last 18 months.
I still haven't done that much outdoor riding but that's starting to change with the weater. The few rides I've done outside have been good and I can already tell the winter power work is going to pay off this season. My climbing power is already great and exceeding where I was last year. Now it's just a matter of getting in that volume to build my endurance.
My running is also coming along nicely. I've been throwing in a good mix of higher intensity work and long slow stuff (I normally tend to run too hard on my longer runs). My hard stuff has ranged from short very hard work on the track to mile fartleks on the trail and roads to extended tempo's at high intensity.
Here's some fun matching you can do. See if you can figure out what goes with what from some recent workouts:
1) Average speed for 6 mile bike hard effort? A) 6:18
2) Split for final 400 yd interval (3rd of 3 descending time)? B) 24.8
3) Average mile pace for 20 minute tempo (2nd half of 40 min tempo)? C) 5:39
Figure it out?
Well the bike effort should be easy, 24.8 mph for miles 20-26 of a 30 mile ride into a stiff headwind. I didn't have wattage but I would have to believe it was in the 270-290 range (I'm not sure how guys like Sinballe hold 300+ watts for an Ironman race).
My final 400 yd interval at the end of a set of 3 x 400 descending was 5:39 a new record by a bunch and best of all the set was descending (5:53, 5:47, 5:39) all of this at the end of a 4600 yd workout with a whole bunch of drill sets where my splits were all under 1:30/100yd.
Finally the second half of my negative split tempo run last night was at 6:18 per mile pace. These are great workouts. Run 20 minutes at a moderate/hard pace then turnaround and run the same distance you just ran for 20 minutes but at a hard effort (typically I target 20 seconds faster per mile). My total 38 minutes of tempo work (20 minutes 1st half and 18 minutes 2nd half) was at a 6:38 per mile pace average which is great considering where my heart rate was and how I felt at the end. Normally I'd be stiff after a workout like this effort but today I feel great. I think I'm turning the corner and finding that extra gear I used to have in my running legs in my early 30's. I'm not feeling much like a 40 year old these days.
I'm definitely looking forward to my upcoming mini camp (i.e. - long training weekend) in Hood River. Still looking for any taker who want to join me for a little suffering in what I hope is sunshine, moderate temps and raging headwinds in the Columbia Gorge. One thing I know is that I'll be fine if I have to go it alone as it allows for that deep focus on those long rides, hard climbs and TT efforts.
I think I'm on track for posting some great performances at the 70.3 distance races this year and at IMC. Look for updates from Hood River in a couple of weeks. Who knows I might even take my camera along and snap a few pics.
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