Taper time

Well it's been a low volume summer of training, and my first 70.3 since 2011 is in just 6 days. I'm not really sure what I can expect, and it's difficult for me to admit to myself that this most likely will not be my best performance nor will it be a PR. But only race day will show me what I'm capable of, and maybe it won't be so bad. Below is my training for the past month.

It is what it is. I just looked back through my training log from 2011, and I was working a lot harder back then... The last 70.3 I did was in May of 2011 and for the 8 weeks prior to the race I had putting in 12-17 hours very consistently. I had actually forgotten how much time I used to spend training.... In that last race I swam 36 minutes (with a 170 heart rate), rode 2:43 (HR 156), and ran a 1:30 (HR 164) for a finishing time of 4:54. It was also one week after I was hit by a car while riding my bike, so I remember my hip being tight and not being able to really get my legs going on the bike. I know at the time I was hoping to be in the 4:30s-4:40s. I would love to be able to stay under 5 hours at the race coming up, but it's all going to depend on how the bike goes. I'm riding carbon this time around with a tt helmet (both of which I didn't have last time) so hopefully that "free speed" everyone on slowtwitch talks about will pay off. If I can manage a decent bike split while getting enough calories in I should still be able to run around 1:30 on a flat course. Again though, only race day will show what I can do.

On a totally different note, I purchased my first pieces of art last week. These TdF prints are AWESOME and will be decorating my house and office.

http://justeleanor.bigcartel.com/product/tour-de-france-100-set-of-5-prints

Later this week I'll write up a little more about race prep/strategy and some bike upgrades that have happened lately. Thanks for reading!