Week 8...Going till I fail...

Mountain Man Pics...

In the lead and happy about it!

I was a mess!

I've said this a few times before, but it is worth mentioning...going to failure is a natural part of my IM training.  Some people, including me, would call this "finding your limits,"  but sometimes you simply fail....the true limitation has been found.   Unfortunately, "Fail" in itself has a negative connotation---I got an "F" is what we all grew up with (no, I never got an F!).  It's one thing to train for an IM where the climate is mild/moderate, but training in Arizona during the summer has to be one of the toughest situations for IM I can think of---brutally hot, brutally dry, and it NEVER cools off enough to let your body repair properly.   My mind often thinks about the Badwater Ultramarathon and how it is not much different from what we are up against here.  You put your sunblock on, you go outside into a furnace, then someone switches on the heater/blowdryer (hot wind), riding or running from gas station to gas station, filling up with 40+ oz of beverage every hour.  Put me in a milder climate, I would love to go ride 5 hours at my target zone, without thinking of survival.  To say it another way:  this is unfair!  Yes, I will be ready for the heat (if it doesn't break me down completely before i get there!), but the solid effort that my competitors are able to get in at their swanky 70-90 degrees are making me feel like I am at a huge disadvantage.  It's not for the lack of effort on my part if, come race day, I am unable to "crush it!"

So, after all those excuses, I am also feeling pretty good about where we are right now.  The highlight of this week was the 2 Hour run on sunday---a nice steady, solid effort.  The speed will come (Kenny and I took it pretty EZ), but the joints feel strong, muscles recovered nicely, and a day later, I could go do it again.  It was a "smaller" week  (16+ hours) in comparison due to last weeks race, but, outside of finding "failure" on my saturday ride (literally--I could not ride any more.  I resorted to my 39 ring to get me home--on that flats pushing a max of 140W--felt like 300W!).   Friday really wiped me out with the ride and run...what you don't see below is the photo shoot for 3GO Magazine on friday that happened between the bike and run---110 degrees in a parking garage with no ventilation---almost passed out a few times, but the shots were worth it!  I saw a few pics on the camera display...I guess good photos come from extremely talented photographers (www.johnsegesta.com) AND their  suffering models ;-) I had plenty of other issues to catch up on and stress me out as well, so I'll take this week for what it's worth, and move forward to a big week to come---getting through this coming week will lift my spirits for sure (21+ hours, testing in Tucson, two runs of 2 hours, and a 5 hr 45 min ride saturday..).

Week 8 workouts below:

Mon Aug 15 no plan: rest day! Tue Aug 16  Swim 3600.0 yd 00:55:00 EZ swim week...first in a long time!  Bike 01:30:00 couldn't get this in as I had 2 meetings after work..I was lucky to get the swim in.. Wed Aug 17  Bike 01:30:00 Pain Cave session...tough!  I wish I could have spun the legs out yesterday.  Run 00:45:00 Wasted off the bike intervals, the run was decent Thu Aug 18  Swim 2750.0 00:55:00 Short swim, but solid efforts building through the workout made it tough Fri Aug 19  Bike 03:00:00 had some intervals in here..got a late start which made this a lot herder than it should have been  Run 00:45:00 Supposed to be a hard effort, and it was, but just at a slower pace!  Run to failure!! Sat Aug 20  Bike 05:00:00 Rode till failure...looks so simple on paper, but throw in the curveballs of life, and things get tough fast! Sun Aug 21  Run 02:00:00 aerobic - long run
	Type Distance Duration Bike 11:00 Run 03:30 Swim 3600.0 yd 01:50 Total Duration: 16:20