Final weekend

Saturday
Bike 40 miles with 4 x 10 min, 1 x 20 min moderate hard [2:30]
Run 3 miles [24 min as 8:08, 8:00, 7:51]

Since my tri bike is already shipped, I rode my road bike. I love my road bike and I love how much more control I have when I am not in aero position. My legs felt fresher than they have in a long time and my head was a lot more positive too. I actually was not dreading this ride. I got out early as the sun was coming up (as usual) and took Mesa out to 360 for the intervals. There were a ton of bikers out there. I reflected on all the hard work I have done biking this road in the last few months.

Run: When I looked down at my watch after the first mile I couldn't believe the 8:08 because I felt like I was going so slow. I attempted to slow down for the second mile but ended up going faster. My legs felt really good. The last mile I just gave it a comfortably hard effort and ended up with a 7:51. Clearly my legs are coming back with this taper.

My Ironman run pace will be 9:00/mile for a 4 hour marathon and I tried to hit that today to see what it feels like but it's actually much slower than my "slow". This run was a good reminder that on race day, no matter how good I may be feeling when I start the run, I still need to go slow. Maybe even slower than slow. I absolutely must not go faster than 9:00/mile in the beginning or I will likely have a major slowdown in the later miles. My ultimate success in this race is to run an evenly paced marathon.

Sunday
Swim 1.2 miles [33:20] - half race rehearsal

Restorative Yoga
Swim 2250m - easy steady pace in open water [38:30]

The race rehearsal swim went really well. I wore my wetsuit and neoprene cap and swam in barton springs to simulate the actual race. In Austin, wearing a wetsuit in the summer is like going running in a sweatsuit but you gotta do what you gotta do. The neoprene cap was tight and kind of uncomfortable around my chin but I got used to it. Same for the wetsuit. I prefer swimming without one but... the water in CDA will be around 55 so I will suck up the tightness for the extra warmth.

The pace I swam was hard but sustainable and know I could have swam twice the distance at that same pace. That puts me in for a 1:06 swim which would be a PR by 1 minute. Of course there are other factors to consider like swimming in a draft, swimming not exactly in a straight line, water chop, the affect of cold water on my breathing, wind, etc, that could all make me faster or slower. I feel very confident that I will have a good swim.



Yoga... nothing crazy just an easy class for some extra stretching on my hamstrings and hips. Felt good.

I came home got packed and took a 2 hour nap. Ahh. This is so relaxing. Nothing to freak out about because the work is already done. Things are good.

Oh yeah, and then I did a spontaneous second swim of the day with D. A nice enjoyable evening in the lake.