I started the year laying down a good base to build on for my first IRONMAN 70.3, well actually it will be my first triathlon period at this rate. I was flying a little too early in the year and decided to back off a little bit so that I wouldn’t get burned out before the actual race got here. Somehow I lost track of time and fitness before noticing that Timberman was only 8 weeks away. Not sure how I missed that one, but now I am under the gun and working my ass off to get back to where I was two months ago. I just finished week two of a four week block and I am starting to feel the legs coming back around.
Yesterday i did my first dress rehearsal to see where I am and was mostly happy with the results. It was a test for the bike and run using the nutrition plan that I have for the actual race. The bike was better than I would have expected. I was trying to stay around 85% of my FTP for an average. To my surprise I managed to average 19.7 mph of my 28 miles test loop without exceeding my target effort level. I never expected to manage that. I will admit that I really should have drank about a half a water bottle more than I did on the bike.
My transition was 2:15 and I was out for my run. I ran 7 miles at around a 5.7 mph pace. I would have liked to be around a 6.3 mph pace, but that was the first time that I have tried running after a ride of that effort. Although I was not as fast as I would have liked to be, I never felt the desire to slow down any or walk.
I really need to start looking around for a couple of smaller local triathlons to do to get my feet wet soon. I really would rather not do Timberman as my first triathlon. Well that’s all for now, off to get a massage.