It's been a great two weeks since Ironman Mooseman 70.3. I won't lie - I took some time off the week following the race. I ran a few times to stay loose, got on the bike a few times and even hit up the pool. It was nice not being tied to a training schedule. Mooseman occurs 14 weeks before IM Wisconsin, but my Half IM to IM bridge training program is two weeks shorter. That gave me two weeks to play with between Mooseman and getting back on the training schedule.
I picked things up a bit more last week getting in at least one workout a day. I didn't want to go into my second round of training having tapered for a week and then not doing anything for another two. While I didn't have a set-in-stone schedule, I was pretty good about getting out. Last weekend had a few highlights. On Friday I got in a fairly fast bike ride on the Schuylkill and followed that up with a short transition run. The run went great, and I finished at a sub-7 minute pace.
The next morning I ran in the Worcester Fire Department 5K. The race director is friend, Thursday morning run group attendee, fellow fire fighter and Montgomery County Fire Academy instructor Tom McGinley. I can't remember the last 5K I did, and I certainly can't remember the last one that I took seriously. I think I'd have to go back to high school cross country to find that, but given the previous night's run I was going to make a decent effort. This "decent effort" included warming up by running the course earlier and scoping out the terrain.
Jen Panetta was at the race too, and her son Chris even ran his first ever race before ours started. Suzanne from our Thursday group was there as well, so we had about half of our normal group. I won't provide a play-by-play of the race. It was hot, humid, and I ran hard. I came in at 20:29 but measured the course as slightly short. Either way I kept it under 22 minutes which I set out to do, and thanks to a small field, my effort landed me 3rd place male age 30-39. I'll take it.
The day wasn't over. I ran home, changed and headed to Ridley Creek State Park for Marita's surprise 30th birthday party. I refueled thanks to Brian McCarthy's skill on the grill and plentiful burgers and hot dogs. From there it was off to New Jersey to see my great friend from college, Karin, and her fiance, Rob. It was time to eat again, and the Thul family made sure that I didn't go hungry. It was great to see them. Joan and I can't wait to see them again at their wedding in September (after my race, thank God).
Karin's family asked how my training was going and how long it was until the race. I gave them an update and said that I was 12 weeks from the race. The response I got was, "Oh, that's lots of time to get ready." Then it hit me. No, it's not. I'm almost there. I'm down to counting weeks on two hands and one foot. In three weeks I'll be able to count using one less hand. Not only am I close to the end, but getting there isn't going to be a walk in the park. Hopefully, there won't much walking at all. There will be a lot of swimming, biking, running and eating.
My 12 week bridge program began this past Monday. The plan is straight forward. Two workouts a day Monday through Thursdays. Fridays off and weekends made up of long bikes and runs. That's about it for the next 10 weeks: all I need to do is stay healthy, keep my weight up and don't get hurt. There are some logistics to take care of - flights to book, bike transportation arrangements to be made and hotel rooms to either be filled or released depending on need. We'll get to those soon enough.
So, here we go. It's the final push, and from the looks of it, this training is either going to break me or make me an Ironman.
No comments:
Post a Comment