Top of the Key

Thursday has become a routine for me lately, Masters at 6am, swim for another hour after that, then work, then my brick.  And I’ve been so lucky with this weather.  I could be battling the trainer in the basement these days, but not this year.

Another solid swim yesterday, that’s all I can really say.  My goal is to be solid, steady, and whittle down my time over the next few years…yeah, years.

Rode in the afternoon pretty hard, the wind was kicking up, which is ideal for IMAZ, and the legs started to feel a bit tired.  I pushed it though, relying on heart rate and speed, as well as perceived effort.  I know i might have been a bit over what the plan was, but the speed wasn’t showing that.  It was just my legs.  In my mind, I wanted to push through the leg fatigue and see just how well I could run off the bike feeling like this.  That’s one thing this year I’ve tried more often…the unknown.  Why not, I already know i can run a 4:05 marathon in an Ironman.  Try somethign new, different, push it more, different nutrition at different times, mix it up.  don’t be afraid to try new things.

Finished the bike, and immediately hit my goal race pace for Ironman.  Today also gave me the opportunity to try out my new shoes that I’ll be wearing next month.  The Nike Lunar Trainers.  So light, and now I know, pretty fast.  I ran very well and hit a pace that I don’t usually get on this particular loop, which includs 2 loops up BlueBell, down Mariposa.  For those that don’t know where this is, in Boulder, if you drive up Baseline towards Chataqua Park, these two roads are the side roads to the south, following a similar ascent for about .5 miles.  Tim has me working more and more hills into my race pace, to get a feeling for running up hill, but also keeping speed and cadence on the downhills.  Which also get your legs used to the pounding of running downhill.

Overall, I can feel the Peak.  It’s here, my body knows, my mind knows, now if I can just bottle it up and release on Nov. 23.