Peaking

My first of two final triathlons of the year is just about a week away. I've had a solid block of training following my age group win at the Lawrence Triathlon in late July. My achilles is almost fully back to normal, about 90% now. I've been able to slowly add in some intensity again on my runs, which has been lacking since the Topeka Tinman. 

High noon track session in Kansas. Bad idea.

The Jackson County Triathlon is the next race (a faux Olympic distance, with a 1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike and 5 mile run), and I'm fully tapering for the race now.  I'm in what Joe Friel calls the "Peak" period.  I follow a pretty simple periodization program from Friel's books, and just finished my final "build" month, which was brutal.  Peak is all about lowering the total training volume in each discipline. Along with the smaller training volume, the intensity of every workout is either at Race Pace, or Recovery pace.  So either fairly hard or crazy easy... By following this plan, I should be in perfect condition to race.

This is the second time this season I have tapered for a specific race. The first time was Kansas 5150  back in May that didn't end up happening. Wah wuh...  

I'm feeling really good about my swim and bike right now.  I've gotten so much faster in each discipline this year, and am feeling really good about my final two races and what I could throw down in terms of pacing.

Prior to some hill repeats at Shawnee Mission Park

The run, however, isn't exactly close to where I wanted it at the beginning of the year.  I had to decrease my run training because of the Achilles issues, but never had to completely stop training.  

I guess I was hoping for more improvement in all three disciplines, although I will take the swim and bike fitness, as both have improved greatly! Consistency pays off! As does a carbon bike with a wheel cover...

Outdoor pool all summer!

The extra free time I have available now that I'm tapering has opened up some time to do some non-triathlon activities, like Royals games or road trips.  We've also been able to get some wedding planning done! 

Rach figuring out how she wants my hair for the wedding

Royals game prior to some lady jumping in the fountains

Oh and eating. Lots of eating...

A week after the Jackson County race, I'm doing the Midwest Meltdown, another faux Olympic distance race on a COMPLETELY flat course in Paola, KS. There have been some jokes going around that if you want to ride the course, just find a running track and ride for 25 miles... I did the short course race last year and totally agree, pancake flat.

I'm hoping my body can hold up for 2 Olympic distance races on back to back weekends.  Regardless, I'm taking a few weeks off before starting Hal Higdon's 12 week training program for the Gobbler Grind Half Marathon in November.

Hope everyone has been enjoying summer! It's winding down....

Geneseo, IL. Drink it in...

thanks for reading

mark