Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike, and Run Miles For Aug 27 - Sept 2

Recovery Ride To Get Some Chobani Yogurt

Post Ironman weeks from my experience are always a crap shoot.  Realistically the races are so long and demanding that any sense of planning is just wasteful in my opinion.  Really, truly, you have to listen to your body and take things hour-by-hour.  After my last Ironman in St. George, I can remember how taxed my body felt for a few days, and then by the next Thursday I felt great for a few days before things turned south again.  This time around I didn't feel nearly as taxed on Tuesday, but the systems still seemed relatively sluggish.  As I type this late Sunday night, I still free pretty good and I have my fingers crossed for Ironman Wisconsin this weekend.

As for specifics this week, well I planned my week around recovery while also getting in some work to keep the systems fresh to "race" again this weekend at The Great Illini Half-Ironman.  Unfortunately on Friday I found out the race was cancelled due to Hurricane Issac but that didn't stop the prep:

Monday: off, travel day
Tuesday: easy bike, easy swim
Wednesday: 3x8 on bike at 70.3 pace with equal recovery, easy run, masters swim where we did a broken 1500 for time.
Thursday: easy bike with Costco run for Chobani yogurt, and easy swim
Friday: hard swim, easy bike
Saturday: 3x30 on the bike with 10 recovery at 70.3 pace, easy run
Sunday: easy bike, hard swim

Unfortunately I had to pull the plug on both the hard swims on Friday and Sunday as my groin felt strained pushing off the wall midway through both mainsets.  It is a reminder to me that just because the cardiovascular / aerobic systems feel fine that not all the stabilizer muscles were healed after the long day that was Ironman Louisville.  It is also a reminder that I have to stay committed to core work.    I have been terrible with this since I came back home to Madison for the summer but I look forward to getting back at this soon.

I also thought I would mention that I threw my position out to all the armchair quarterbacks on Slowtwitch and I made some changes to my bike fit both on Wednesday before my ride and Saturday based on some feedback. Clearly I am in full experimentation mode and both changes resulted in me feeling better, but we shall whether I stick with the changes.

As of right now I have no clue how Ironman Wisconsin will go and I have no expectations.  As it stands, I am down a few pounds, and for the first time all year I still feel as powerful as always on the bike.  This leaves me excited to see what is possible, but then again the last time I did back-to-back Ironmans it didn't exactly go well.  This year I am going to take things as-is and if I need to pull the pin and save it for Leadman Bend I can do that as well. Wisconsin has a stacked field this year and even finishing in the Top 5 will be certainely be challenge.

Here are my weekly swim, bike, and run totals:

Total: 156 Miles / 13 hours 22 minutes

Swim: 12,248 yards / ~7 miles / 3 hours 35 minutes
Bike: 133 miles / 7 hours 49 minutes
Run: 15 miles /  1 hours 57 minutes
Core:  0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes

Weight: N/A
Body Fat: N/A

Calories Consumed: N/A
Calories Burned: N/A