4 Weeks Till B2B

I'm four weeks out from my only true Ironman race, this year.  It will be only my second attempt at this distance.  But with the training I've put in over the last year, as well as my last tune-up, at the Leadman 250 last weekend I am super excited about Beach to Battleship, in Wilmington, NC.  The two biggest things I took away from Leadman were that I needed work on the bike and that my run was coming along quicker than expected.

I am very excited about the run course down at B2B.  It is perfectly flat and will really allow me to get out there and hammer early without having to worry about cramping on hills.  I also like the design of the course being so spectator friendly.  My Mom will be down for the race and my cousin is coming in from Alaska for a family reunion of sorts...I have a lot of family in the Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC area that I haven't seen for years.  It will be awesome to see them!  So, I'm very much looking forward to seeing them multiple times along the course, which isn't possible at some other races. 

This week my training hit a bit of a speed bump.  Between the travelling for Leadman and the race itself, I was a little worn down and spent most of the week sick.  I've tried to train through these things in the past and gone weeks without shaking the sickness.  Now I just opt for a couple days of rest and sleep and come back stronger and quicker.  That said, I'm still not happy that I've been totally down for 4 days this week.  I got in a great base run on Pre's Trail, in Eugene, the day before I left.  It was a beautiful trail - mostly flat along the Willamette, through open fields and through patches of forest.  Not quite peaceful, as it is busy, but still a very beautiful setting.  Was the first time I've been able to average sub-7's for that type of run, which I found very encouraging considering it was less than two days following the race.  My only other workout this week was a 30 minute easy run, yesterday.

My plan is to hit the next ten days hard, then taper down over the last 2.5 weeks. Can't wait to see how this last block goes!  Looking forward to a couple good long rides and some quality interval training on the run.  At this point my swim is in maintenance.  I am happy with where my swim is and will back off it for the next ten days, and ramp back up as I start to decrease overall volume.