IRONMAN CHATTANOOGA 2019 TRAINING

WEEK 23 – Monday 8/5/2019 – Sunday 8/11/2019

Last week my training buddies and I opted to switch training Weeks 22 and 23 so that we could do Week 23’s long ride together.  So this week I went back to Week 22 in the Be Iron Fit training plan and did the work.  Week 22 is sort of an easier week ending in a half Iron distance race, which I always do on my own instead of opting for an actual race.  I am a little afraid that racing against a thousand or more other athletes could lead to an accident or other injuries that could jeopardize all of the work I have been putting in up to this point.  I just prefer to tackle it on my own.

Last time I did this workout was in 2017, leading up to Ironman Louisville.  I had a pretty decent day that day and had a good swim and bike.  It was the run that beat me.  I ended up having to cut it short and get an unofficial DNF (did not finish) to my one-man race.  That day I got beat.  You can read that recap here:  It Beat Me

I was determined to do this one a little smarter and not suffer like I did in 2017.  I looked at the weather and saw that Sunday had some rain forecasted, so I opted to do the practice race a day earlier.  Saturday started out beautiful.  The temperature was in the 60’s, it was overcast, and there was no wind or breeze to speak of.  I jumped into the pool and got going.

I swam pretty strong, pushing myself harder than I usually do.  Since my watch won’t read correctly in my pool, I just based my distance on what I have done in actual half Iron distance swims in the past.  I swam for 40 minutes and then got out and prepped myself for the bike.

After reapplying Body Glide in the usual locations and fiddling with my bike and gizmos, I hopped on and hit the road.  I hadn’t ridden west to Elwood in several weeks, so I decided to go that route.  I knew that I would probably have to add on some extra miles, and when I got to the cemetery out there and after I looped through it once my odometer showed about 25 miles.  I needed an additional 6 miles or so.  I decided to explore a little and added a quick extra three miles on a nearby road or two, then started heading back.

I was keeping track of my sweating and with a couple of nature stops, I was pretty sure that I was doing pretty good with keeping on top of my hydration and fueling.  I was fortunate to not have really any wind heading out and I seemed to pick up a tailwind as I was heading back, which was really rare for me.  I was moving along well.

This doggo provided some entertainment toward the last third of the ride.

At about 47 miles into riding, I saw another rider coming up on a side road and eventually passed me.  I could tell he was on a mission to pass me and make it known that he was Top Dog on this road.  I started studying him a little – he seemed like a typical cyclist, who liked to climb out of the saddle (which I hardly ever do) and had a nice Willier bike.  He was pulling away going up a slight uphill, but when we started the downhill after cresting, I pulled him back in thanks to being more aerodynamic than he was.  He kept looking over his shoulder and finally slowed down and let me catch him.  We chatted a little bit and he turned off on another road and I went straight toward home.

Upon getting home, I was pretty close to hitting that 56 mile ride on the nose.  I ended up with an additional .75 miles due to overestimating a second out and back of about 3 miles.  I came inside, downed a Gatorade, toweled myself off, switched to a running singlet, grabbed my running stuff and hit the trail.

I felt pretty good heading out until I didn’t.  My route starts and ends with hills.  The middle is all flat, but it was sunny now and getting warm.  I was sweating a lot and with only one water bottle, I was being a little too miserly with drinking.  Fortunately, I was heading toward Frankfort where I could refill my water.  But I was now running on fumes.  I had been consistent with eating my gels and taking a salt capsule, but the day was certainly starting to become very much like the last time I did it in 2017.  But I refused to let it beat me.  I started walking more, sought out more shade when I could, and just kept moving forward.  The plan was to be under 2 hours for this run, but I thought early on that that was an ambitious goal.  I ended up getting back home in 2:09.  That’s probably pretty close to Ironman run race pace, so not quite what I wanted for a half Iron distance race pace, but more in line with what to expect in seven weeks.

 

I spent some time in the pool to cool off, downed a couple Gatorades, started shivering and ended up taking a 20-minute hot shower to warm me back up.  I got out of the shower and jumped into bed and napped for a little bit.  I was actually feeling a little worse than I did after last week’s 5-hour group ride.  This was not how I expected the day to end, especially after having a really good swim and bike.  Now I know not to hammer the bike too hard and to drink more.  Lots more.

I was determined to not be beaten like I was in 2017, and I wasn’t.  But it wasn’t pretty either.  I have seven more weeks to dial this in.

 

WEEK 23 TRAINING TOTALS:

Swims: 2 total, 4200 total yards

Rides: 4 total, 89 total miles

Runs: 3 total, 24 total miles