Survived the Summer

So I finished my long run this morning and am officially tapering toward the big day (although a couple big workouts to go). I’m a subscriber to the Ironman training philosophy that the longest run shouldn’t exceed 2-1/2 hours. Any pure marathoners reading this are probably gasping right now thinking, “No 22 milers? Is this guy nuts?!” Well, yes, of course I’m nuts. I’m voluntarily doing an Ironman. Look - The Ironman marathon is mostly about raw guts. Sub-10 minute miles will have you passing masses of otherwise fit people during the final half of the marathon. There's no healthy way to train for that!

My running and riding paces are slightly faster this year than last. I’m swimming a bit slower. Overall I think I’m in a very good place.

To convince myself I’ve done the requisite training, I sat down and compared my three month lead-up training in ’08 to ’07. Going into that exercise, I would have guessed that my ’08 swimming volume is lower, cycling is significantly higher, and running is slightly higher. Actual results?

• ’08 swimming is more than 8% higher than ’07
• ’08 cycling is more than 9% higher than ‘07
• ’08 running is more than (drum roll please) 56% higher than ’07
• Net training volume is 19% higher than ‘07

How’d I manage that?

For one, I eliminated weight training and substituted swimming and running. I’m a fast twitch guy that doesn’t need supplemental weight training. Save that for the scrawny endurance types. :-)

It also seems I am sneaking in short runs all over the place. Do a swim …follow it with a run. Do a bike… follow it with a run. Make an omelette… follow it with a run. Etc, etc,…

Traditional training philosophy states that you shouldn’t increase training volume by more than 10% per year. All I have to say to that is, “doh!” It wasn’t exactly on purpose and I’ve managed to stay injury free this year (knocking on wood).