New Personal Best

Honestly, I do not know how people do it. How do people keep up with these blogs? I have family, work, exercise and sleep taking up my day. So, how do I find a little time for the occasional blog entry? I am not really sure. However, I'll still try.

Starting next Monday, I will be making my final push for Ironman Coeur d'Alene. With this final push, I am going to try to focus on all parts of my racing persona. I have come to realize that there is a lot more to training and racing then just simple exercise. Of course, I am going to do my best to focus on each and every workout that I do. I want to be able to get every last bit of strength and endurance that I can muster. There is little doubt that the stronger athletes tend to be the faster athletes.

Additionally, I plan to focus on the mental side of this Ironman lifestyle. The Ionman is really all encompassing. First, it will involve reviewing my race plan over and over in my head so that when, in race, calorically depleted and emotionally fragile, my plan will be 2nd nature. Second, I must streamline my life so that there is not any wasted mental energy worrying about things that I should have done before. That really means that there should be no wasted time. It will serve me best to be focused at all times.

This week represents my last mini break from hard training, before the big race. It is a time to let my muscles rest and a time to redefine my fitness with a series of three benchmark tests. Throughout the winter and spring I have conducted a 1000yrd swimming time trial, a 42 minute bike power test and a 5K running test. Today was my power test.

I both look forward to and dread this workout. Over the past few years I have found it to be one on the most exhausting hours of my life. Previously, my best was 306 watts over the allotted time period. Now, it has been six weeks since I last tested and I have been working pretty hard. In fact, my hardest weekend was just this last one where I totaled over 8 hours of biking and a TSS of greater than 450. I awoke this morning to realize that I had overslept by 20 minutes and would have to cut my warm up short due to work. That, coupled with my sore legs, left me a little nervous about the test. Well, I saddled up and got to work. As the first 20 minutes elapsed, I found myself slowly getting faster and faster averaging near 320 watts. After 20 minutes I entered the 2 minute rest interval. This time is a blessing and a curse. My legs wanted the rest, but my head could barely take the ever falling average watts throughout the time period. No use worrying. I set myself up for the last 20 minutes and hammered way. I had made it my goal to get back to 321 watts, where I was when the first interval ended. I pushed harder and harder and by the end of the 42 minutes, I was completely spent. A quick glance at my power meter and I was ecstatic. A new personal best of 325 Watts. Yes, 325 Watts.

Now, I an going to relax a little bit over this week, finish up testing if I have the time, and then, get myself ready for an Ironman.

Keep Working,

JTG