Ironman Lake Tahoe – End of Peak Training

Whew….I can finally catch my breath now that I am finally in taper. Originally I was a little upset about Ironman Canada’s move from late August to late July (one less training month) but now after finishing up training for Tahoe I am grateful. August and September are busy family months with 4 birthdays and lots of racing for other family members. 

Finishing up peak training and having at least one month of the summer to just goof off will also be nice.

My last few weeks of peak training were a little off because of other obligations but I was able to get *most* of it in and even a 50 mile running week in (that’s big for me). I didn't do a great job recording everything at Garmin connect so I can’t even give a play-by-play training update. That might be boring anyway but I can give some highlights:

Two 20 miles runs in mid 90 degree heat – one off a 3 hr bike ride

Two 100+ mile bike rides with hill repeats
Many open water swims
Four weeks of “climbing camp” where I road different hills from the Tahoe course on a computrainer
One loop of the Tahoe course on the computrainer
Lots of time climbing up mountains on my bike

As the season progressed I focused more and more on climbing on the bike. I have the advantage of living at altitude here in Colorado and having lots of great mountains to climb. Now I am just hoping that my knee will hold up and get me up the 4 big climbs on race day. I am now focusing on recovering my tired legs and even what I will do during my 4 weeks of recovery “free time”  in October or Fun-tober  as I have started calling it.