By my count there is 6 weeks left till Ironman Texas. Which gives me about 3-4 more weeks of intense training before I start to taper off, and recover up for the race. It seems like yesterday it was still months away, and now before I know it race day will be here.
Just an update on how things are going. The weather has been cooperating a little more which is nice. I am able to get outside and get some time in on my actual bike. I have also been able to get some outdoor runs in. I have gotten behind on my weekly updates, so I will just give you a brief overview of what the last two weeks have looked like.
Last week:
2 miles swimming
70 miles biking
5 miles running
2 hour 45 minutes of weight lifting
This week:
2.2 miles swimming
50 miles on the bike (with an additional 40 mile ride planned for tomorrow to make the weekly total 90)
7.5 miles running
30 minutes weight lifting
The volume of training has increased and will keep increasing for the next three to four weeks. I will have some of the most intense training loads I have ever attempted since I started triathlons 3 years ago. I am also starting to scale back on the weight lifting and increasing the cardio aspect of my training.
Nutrition is also playing a huge factor in this as I have adjusted my eating habits to making sure I am fueling myself appropriately for the training load I have. As the old saying goes I am "eating to train", not "training to eat". Meaning that even though I am working out more I can't use that as an excuse to eat crap or cheat on my meal choices. I am making smart decision to make sure I am fueled properly for the workouts and my body is operating at a highly efficient level.
My biggest challenge at this point is rest and recovery. My days start with the alarm going off anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30 am so I can try and get my workouts in first thing in the morning. As you can imagine by 8:00 at night I am pretty dang tired.
But I keep plugging along. May 18th will be here before I know it. Until then....the training continues....
