Ironman Lake Placid Training Week 25 Update-Still Tapering

I feel like I was going 100 MPH and we just slammed on the brakes! I thought only training 8-9 hours last week was light, but we cut that in half again this week with only ~4 hours total training. It feels like nothing. Crazy to think that some people may think that is a lot, but after 17-18 hour weeks it is peanuts. It has actually worked out quite well though. The heat and humidity have peaked this past week with temps in the mid to high 90’s and humidity you can cut with a knife. There were also a few other things that lined up well and allowed me to make optimal use of the time.

It’s “Tour” time! Yes, the Tour de France is just finishing up today and has consumed the airwaves on the NBC Sports Network Channel. The Tour is around 3 weeks long and this past week was the most exciting part where they head into the Alps for some battles in the mountains. The scenery is beautiful and with our upcoming trip to the Alps, I started to get pretty psyched up for that. This year Chris Froome from the Sky team has been dominating much of it. There is also a little 23 year old guy from Columbia, named Nairo Quintana, that has been really taking the tour by storm. I can see him being a possible tour winner in the future. It has been a pretty interesting 100th running of the tour this year. The best stage was the 2 climbs up Alpe d’Huez one after the other. Simply brutal!

The other thing that worked out was that my wife had gotten a bike fitting early in the week, so we were able to ride together on Saturday for one of my shorter rides. It was a nice morning for a ride too. Not too hot and pretty cloudy which kept the heat down. Actually, we did a brick workout that day with a short 10 minute run off the bike. We even drug our dog, Yuki, along for the run. We rewarded him with a little wallow in the stream afterwards for a cool down. Then he got a bath too.

My Sunday long run was only 45 minutes, so I just headed over to Rodale Fitness Park where I usually do my shorter weekday runs. The heat and humidity finally subsided here a bit, so it was much more tolerable morning. The park was busy with folks walking, running, rollerblading and biking. As I ran around I tried to grasp the fact that Ironman Lake Placid was only a week away and that this time next week I would be out on the bike cruising through the Adirondacks. What seemed like so far away for so long was finally here.

The upcoming week is going to be a really easy one. As my coach says “just chillax” these week. Love that one. I can chillax like the best of them. Short week of work and then on route to the Adirondacks to settle in for the race. I spent some of today finalizing my checklists and getting some last minute bike gear(cheap H2O bottles are hard to find). Time dot the I’s and cross the T’s.

Geekin’ Out…The Techy Stuff

The Training Totals(since January 1 2013)..

Heart Rate Variability

My Heart Rate Variability (HRV)rebounded back into the high 60’s and 70’s this week with the reduction in training. I can’s say I really felt that spectacular yet, so hopefully that will come up even more this upcoming week.

Looking at HRV for the entire training season, you can see the up-and-downs that go with the changes in volume and intensity of training. Overall, it appears to trend upward as the 2nd half of the season progresses. The very high value during the first week or two was from an old algorithm that was used in the Sweetbeat iOS app.

Training Load Analysis(TRIMP/CTL/ATL)

The graph below shows that my fatigue(ATL) has dropped significantly below my fitness level(CTL) giving me a positive Training Stress Balance(TSB) of 24(132 CTL-108 ATL = 24 TSB).

Finally the breakdown of weekly training volumes broken up by activity…

Well, that is all for now. Stay tuned for some more frequent updates once we arrive in Lake Placid later in the week. I am sure the town will be a-buzz with activity. The weather up there has dropped significantly this week and I am hoping the lake water temperature drops too. The reading this morning was 77 deg F at 2 feet down. Need that to be under 76 degrees for wetsuit legal race. The call for Sunday is about 40% change of rain and in the mid-70’s. Rain can be a bit uncomfortable, but I do run well in the rain. It keeps me cool and provides me more oxygen in the air. I don’t like it on the bike though, since it can be slippery , more prone to flats, and makes it too cold. We’ll see how that pans out sine we still have 7 days for that to change.

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you in Lake Placid!!