When facing a relatively long training ramp-up (for example
when training for an Ironman race), I like to interject a few races or other
events into the mix. It breaks up the training and gives me something to look
forward to that is a little more immediate than a race that might be several months
away. These early races also give me feedback on where I am in my training and
what I might need to work on.
The race I am targeting, Ironman China, will be in April 2008, which
about 5 months from now. now I have three events planned between now and IM
China: They are: a) 10 mile running race; b) one-hour swimming race; and c)
70.3 IM CA.
Thanksgiving day race (November)
This is a traditional race for me.
It is an increasingly popular 10 mile road race and is held a few miles outside of Phoenix, Arizona. I like it for several reasons.
First, the weather is typically stellar, sunny in the low 60s. Second, I feel
significantly less guilty gorging my Thanksgiving feast later that day. Third is that it kick
starts my running regimen.
This year’s race was perfectly timed for my IM China training
schedule. Due to my foot surgery in January, I have not done much running all year.
Last month I started running again but fearing re-injuring my foot I have
intentionally kept my pace to a very slow run, so slow that I’ve lost all
feelings of speed. During the Thanksgiving race (which was this week), it felt
absolutely great to get out and put some real effort into a run. I got a very good sense of
where I am in my running fitness and I finished the race both confident and
motivated to ramp up my mileage.
One-Hour Swim (January)
The masters swim group that I train with likes to focus on
an annual swimming event in which each person swims as far as they can in one
hour. This coincidentally is close to the time it takes to swim the 2.4 mile
Ironman swim. The timing of the event, which is the end of January, is perfect
since it will put me at my top endurance swimming form about 10 weeks before
Ironman China.
While this is might seem a bit early to be peaking, I should be able to hold on
to much of this fitness with only 2-3 swim work-outs per week allowing
me to ramp up my running and biking (which are the legs that will make or break my
race).
What I enjoy about training for the one-hour swim is that
I’ll be doing perfect Ironman swimming work-outs (long intervals) with a large
group. I’m often torn between choosing between doing non-Ironman specific swim
training with a masters group or doing more appropriate swim work-outs alone.
Not surprisingly I do better in a coached work-out with a group, especially if we are all training for the same competitive event.
70.3 ½ IM California
(March)
Arguably I shouldn’t even do this race since it is too close
to Ironman China
and is in fact just two weeks before I depart. But I like IM course and it was simply too
tempting to pass up. My strategy is to keep the pacing in check so that I can
recover well before China
as well as avoiding getting sick.
My strategy is to treat the ½ IM as my last long work-out.
It is also a good place for me to test out under race conditions any new equipment that I acquire between now
and then. The same thing goes for testing out any race
day nutrition/hydration regimens that I plan on using in China.
You may have noticed the absence of a biking event. Historically
I’ve also incorporated an organized century ride in my Ironman ramp-up with my
favorite being the Palm Springs Century. (I’ve also ridden my bike to Santa Barbara and had the
family meet me there for a family week-end.) However this year I have so much
travel planned (up to an including China) that I simply can’t fathom
adding another week-end trip. So I’ll have to forgo the century—at least an organized one. I’ll certainly be doing several 100+ mile rides on my own.
Each of the above three events serves a purpose—both
physiological and psychological—in preparing me for my China race. If the
recently-completed Thanksgiving race is any indication, keeping the long
training season fun and fresh is probably their greatest value.
My next post will get back to the specifics of the Ironman China race, specifically the logistics of which there are many.