Grand Finale - Peak Week #17

Saturday was designed as the BIG day for me in my training plan.  The race is just 3 weeks out and this test will surely give me a great feel for everything related to race day.  This was the meant to be the training day that would most closely represent Ironman and I was definitely looking forward to it because I knew it would help me figure out pacing and race strategy and refine any nutrition or hydration issues that may still exist.

The SWIM:

Lake Monona on the morning of my swim.

The day began at 8:30am at the Madison Open Water Swim event.  This is a chip-timed race which is put on by the Master's Swim Organization.  They provide two distance options of 1.2 or 2.4 mile swims in Lake Monona.  Me and my training partner, Brad were both doing the full 2.4 mile swim option.  The course layout is pretty much the identical course that will be used in Ironman.  I also liked the fact that this was a mass start which will very closely mimic what I will experience in 3 weeks.  I would guestimate that there was probably 200-300 people in our start wave and I purposely positioned myself up towards the front and middle where I thought there would be the most contact and struggle.  I am not an extremely fast swimmer, but I am a strong swimmer so I knew people might swim over me, but this is what I wanted.  I needed to experience the washing machine effect and all the physcial contact to see how I responded.  I didn't really ask Brad if he minded where I was positioning us, but he has done Ironman before and seemed to be okay with wherever I wanted to start.  So that is where we waited for the starting siren.

When the siren started there was a ton of contact and I was pressed for space.  I got whacked a bunch of times by arms and legs and I'm sure I whacked a bunch of people as well.  I did not get hit in the head, so that was good.  If I learned nothing from this swim, I definitely reaffirmed the importance of putting my goggles on underneath the swim cap.  I can very easily see them getting knocked off in all the excitement of a mass swim start.  The contact and "action" finally subsided somewhere close to the first turn buoy (maybe 700 yards or so).  After that point, it was easy to get in a rythmn and swim smoothly.  My goal was to swim a comfortable pace and try to find a speed that left me with plenty of energy for the rest of the day.

I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 22 minutes (Finisher results found HERE).  Most importantly I got out of the water feeling pretty good and not very fatigued.  After a 2.4 mile swim, that is a good sign.  I will certainly position myself differently for Ironman because I am not going to get in the way of the faster swimmers just for my selfishness.  In addition, I also found that I used up more energy than is needed in those first 700 yards when the contact and stress is greatest.  In the context of Ironman, I am looking to minimize expending energy and hope to position myself where I am amongst similar speed swimmers to keep the contact and fighting to a minimum.  We'll see how that works out for me.

Brad finished the swim very shortly after me and had a good solid effort as well.  Unfortunately he wasn't as lucky as me and took a fist or elbow to the forehead and had a pretty nice golf ball sized bump growing on his head.  In the scope of things, that was the only carnage amongst the two of us, so we survived pretty well & were ready for our bike rides.

The BIKE:

We decided to drive our cars out to Verona and do two loops of the course (appx 84 miles) and then Brad was calling it a day.  I would have loved to also call it a day at 84 miles, but of course my plan had me doing a 6 hour and 30 minute ride so I knew I had to ride longer and further than the 84 miles.  I ended up riding 98.5 miles and averaged something in the 16 mph range which would be a good target goal come race day.  The hills of this course really beat you up and after 100 miles one cannot help but be at least somewhat fatigued.  I can't stress enough the difficulty level of this course and there is a reason it is consistently considered the hardest in Ironman.  I did finished the bike tired, but not completely spent because I knew I had about an hour run to complete.

The RUN:

At this point we are somewhere around 6pm and dinner is starting to look really appealing.  This training day was quite physical, but it was also tough mentally because I really wanted to call it quits at this point.  I knew I could run, but I didn't really want to run.  So I am glad I had the toughness to suck it up and run close to an hour even though I really wanted a shower and some dinner.  I ended up running a nice little out and back which put me at 50 minutes.  I experimented a bit with my pace to see how things felt, but overall I kept it quite slow just to make sure I didn't stop or be forced to quit.  I averaged something in the 10 minute per mile pace and when all is said and done, I was happy with that.  I felt like I could have run faster, but I would be VERY content with anything in that 10 minute per mile pace range come race day. 

Post Workout:

Finished somewhere around 7pm.  I was definitely tired, but still not completely spent or exhausted.  This was a good sign for me.  I actually had enough energy to clean myself up by jumping in the lake in the park where I had started my run.  This was my shower.  After my shower, I changed into clean clothes while hiding behind a bush next to the lake.  I don't think anyone saw me, but at that point, I didn't really care.  I made my way back to the car and headed out of Verona looking for a place to grab a bite to eat when I saw a Taco Bell sign that got me really excited.  I made my way to the Bell and had perhaps the greatest steak Grilled Stuffed Burrito I have ever had in my life.  I am pretty sure people in the restaurant thought I was a bit odd as I sat in the corner moaning and groaning in excitement as I consumed my burrito in a very neanderthal kind of way.  But once again, I did not care.

And after the hour and a half drive home (and nearly falling asleep a few times), the day concluded at 10pm.  It was a long, tough, physically and mentally draining day.  However, I must keep it all in perspective that Ironman-day will be even harder.

And that closes the books on the hardest training week of the plan.  I consider it a success! 

BOOM....Week 17 complete!