Over the hump!

Ohhhhh the taper....it's a beautiful thing.

This weekend was peak training weekend which means I rode my bike 100 miles and ran 3 miles. Then on Sunday I ran 20 miles. It was hot....95 degrees hot. On one hand it was good to have a tough weekend of training just in case it is like this in Louisville. On the other hand it was a little miserable but I guess that just makes you stronger. After all of that training I'm tired but I'm also excited because this is the official beginning of "the taper." All of my training goes down in volume from here until the big day on August 30th. I can start catching up on sleep and getting my body all rested up for the Ironman.

3 weeks to go...our race numbers should arrive soon!

I'm back kids!

I'm back....healthy and ready to race!

Last week was my big comeback week after "the incident" with my arm and the ground that broke it. I was given the A-OK to swim with two arms and ride my bike outside last Monday so on Tuesday I took my bike down to Shelby Park and rode around for about an hour. I was a little wobbly at first but then it all came back...it's just like riding a bike...ha literally.

Wednesday I swam with two arms but I still used fins so I really kinda felt like I was cheating. On the other hand "lefty" is a little gimpy and could use some time to catch up in strength to my overpowered right arm.

On Friday I woke up at 4:15am and made it to my first 5am morning swim practice in weeks. I forgot how painful that hour of the morning can be. It still amazes me that on the radio "After Midnight with Blair Garner" is on air when I get up. That's just wrong. Practice was tough...I'm not gonna lie...it kicked my arse. Fridays are long-course which means it is 50 meters instead of 25 yards...BIG difference! I swam with both arms and no fins which basically made me feel like one of those water bugs where their arms go in one direction and their legs in another but they don't get anywhere. Going from 6 weeks of fins to no fins makes you feel like you're pulling a barge behind you. I survived practice, got ready for work, drove to the office, ate breakfast, and promptly took about an hour nap until 9am came around.

Saturday was my big day outside. I had taken my bike to ACME earlier in the week to get spruced up. Red tires...BAD-ASS is all I have to say! I had a 100 mile ride and 3 mile run on tap for the day. My normal training crew was in for the long haul as well. The ride went great...actually went much better than I expected. We averaged almost 17mph, the weather was fantastic, and 6 hours passed much quicker than usual. We knocked out a 3 mile run afterwards and called it a day.

Sunday was long...18 miles long....and felt as good as any 18 miler can feel. I was strong in the beginning, middle, and most of the end....it was those last 2 miles that almost killed me. I did it though and kept a steady 10:00 pace throughout.

I have one more hard weekend of training coming up and then the downward slope into race day begins. I'll need to get out to the lake and do an open water swim to make sure the arm is ready to go, test out my new bike nutrition again, and see if my planned race attire will be up to the challenge of Ironman Louisville.

The race is in 25 days...but who's counting!