Monday, September 03, 2012

On (to) Wisconsin -- Tale of the Tape

It's Labor Day, and six days out from IMWI, so it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the labor I've put in getting ready for this event.

I'm no newbie to triathlon -- this is my 8th season of competition, and I've completed 29 tris of varying distances in that time -- including five 1/2-IMs -- so training at a fairly serious level is nothing new to me. But the all-consuming nature of IM training has been something of an eye opener.

Thanks to online programs like Training Peaks, though, it's pretty easy to look back and see what I've done to get ready. So here are my training totals for the year so far:

Swim --  69 hours, 203,533 yards. That's about 115 miles. Not a lot to real swimmers, but a good total. That compares with 277,000 yards for all of last year, so there hasn't been a big change in the amount of swimming I've done. I just completed my last training swim before the race and did 3000 yards in 55 minutes, so I think I'm on course to get a swim time I'll be happy with.

Bike -- 200 hours, 3215 miles.No doubt that's been the biggest change -- I've put a lot more miles on the bike this year than in the past. In fact I've already surpassed last years total of 3058 miles. And I've had three 200+ mile weeks, with five single rides of 80 miles or more. Pretty good numbers for an age-grouper triathlete, I think.

Run -- 93 hours, 629 miles. Easily on course to beat last year's total of 726 miles. Interestingly enough, I haven't run further than 15 miles in a single run this year. That may seem odd, since the Ironman concludes with a 26.2 jaunt around Madison, but it really isn't. I've got plenty of marathoning experience, and I won't be attempting to do the IM marathon at nearly the pace I'd do a stand-alone race. Based on training and the runs I've done this year, I'm confident I'll be OK on the run (if I ride smart!)

So what other metrics stand out? Well, my weight is down to around 162 pounds, the least I've weighed since high school, and about 7-10 pounds less than the start of the year. If I didn't like food and beer so well, it might be even less. And my waist size has dropped from 35 inches to 32. I've thinned down enough that even Coach Debi says I don't need to lose any more weight.

Of course the big number that any competitive age-grouper will be looking at is their race time. I'm not going to make any predictions, except to say that if I stay focused on my goals during the race I'm sure I'll get a time I'll be happy with.

Ken


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