Peak Weeks

As I near the end of my training plan for Ironman Coeur D’Alene on June 24th, I am reaching the biggest weeks of training, when I will breakthrough to new levels of fitness, endurance, and strength. After completing these longs weeks, I will spend almost three weeks “tapering,” which is when I limit my workouts in order to promote recovery and strengthening. With this post, I want to give a little taste of what goes into a peak week.

For the week beginning on May 28th (Memorial Day), I put in 170 miles of cycling, 33 miles of running, and 10,000 yards of swimming. The key workouts in this week were my last long run on Tuesday night of almost 20 miles and my race rehearsal brick (bike + run) on Saturday of 112 miles of cycling and 4 miles of running.

Running is definitely the most difficult discipline on an athlete’s body – the pounding of a long run takes a much larger toll on your joints and tendons than cycling or swimming. So, it’s important to build up your running endurance gradually and then allow for plenty of recovery time after peaking. So, after a good gradual buildup in the length of my long runs, I tried to peak with a long, hilly run of almost 20 miles almost 4 weeks from the race. This run took me from my house in Hermosa Beach south to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where I ascended up the hills and around towards Lunada Bay before running home. From the peak, I will shorten the length and intensity of my runs and allow my legs to take in all the training, recover, and grow stronger.

Saturday’s race rehearsal brick was my chance to get in a last long cycle of 112 miles (the race distance) and, more importantly, to practice my plan for triathlon’s 4th discipline: nutrition.

In pushing your body over 140 miles and 12 hours of exercise, it is essential to fuel your body with effective carbohydrates to sustain energy. My goal during the race is to take in up to 400 calories per hour during the bike leg – up to 2,600 calories. This is not easy to do! So, Saturday’s ride was nutrition practice in addition to cycling practice.

I prepared 4 bottles of Gatorade and mixed in 3 scoops of Carb Pro to each bottle. C arb Pro is a white carbohydrate powder that contains 120 calories per scoop. It has no flavor, and it can be mixed into Gatorade to produce an extra powerful nutrition drink. On my bike, I alternate drinking this formula and water. I also like to take down some chocolate flavored PowerGel, a nutrient-rich gel that provides instant energy. Each gel contains 120 calories, so six gels over a six hour ride will help me reach my calorie goal. Occasionally, I will pack along some fig Newtons, for some additional tasty treats.

So, I began Saturday’s ride with an ambitious plan to go up to Temescal Canyon, back down around the Palos Verdes Peninsula, back up to Marina del Rey, and then once again back down around the Peninsula. This would put me at just over 112 miles. After an early start, I found a good rhythm and settled in for a long ride. The ride took over 7 hours, which is slower than I anticipate going in the race. This is because I took on this challenging ride while my body was still fatigued from weeks of hard work, including Tuesday’s long run. For the race, I will have the advantage of being rested and at full strength.

After fininshing the ride, I put on my running shoes and started out for a short run. I also practiced drinking some coke on the go, simulating one of the best pick-me-ups of an Ironman. During the run, I felt strong and was able to push my pace and finished the four miles feeling strong. This was a huge confidence boost, and it makes me excited to rest up and get ready to race!