On Saturday, August 31st I raced the long course AquaBike at CassadagaMan (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike).
I Couldn’t do the 13 mile run due to the slow recovery of my broken ankle. It’s been 8 weeks since I had my bike crash and I have started doing some short runs on soft surfaces (grass, turf fields, rubber school tracks) but 13 miles on pavement would have been too risky.
5 days before the race I did a 100 mile bike ride.
It got very hot and humid and I really felt the heat on the climb at mile 75 but I felt decent at the end and definitely could have run off the bike if not for the ankle.
After the ride my Garmin watch showed a low recovery level. When I showed it to Alex they asked “is that out of 10” and I responded “sadly not, out of 100!”
I should have taken Tuesday off but as I work on Wednesdays that is my “rest” day. I did a pool swim and my first run in 7 weeks on Tuesday (on soft grass).
After that I was more recovered by Wednesday morning, but not nearly “race ready”.
As Alex was driving down to Brooklyn on Thursday to begin adulthood (having graduated college in May) we went to see some old friends and their pets.
And on our morning walk with Fifa…..
Thursday morning Garmin had me up to….
Fifa was sad to see Alex leave on Thursday.
I felt much more melancholy than all the times they drove to college. This seemed much more “final”. I actually did not know when I would next see Alex… I don’t have any NYC trips planned and they will probably come to be my Sherpa for Ironman Florida but that is dependent on their travel flexibility with work.
I just biked 30 minutes in the basement and went to a gym class with my trainer and by Friday was up to….
Friday I only ran a mile and stretched and for race morning I did feel well recovered.
The weather forecast had improved over the last few days before the race. It was a little rainy at home but it cleared by the time I got to Cassadaga an hour later.
Before putting my phone away I checked the radar and put a garbage bag over my transition area stuff.
It started raining as I did my warmup swim. It rained for the swim and the first half hour of the bike but then it was done. After the rain finished it felt very muggy but the temperature didn’t really rise until the sun came out after a few hours.
Doing just the AquaBike was nice since afterwards I had time for a long massage and lunch before hitting the road. Meanwhile the people doing the full half-Ironman 70.3 distance were running 13 hilly miles under the hot sun.
And after the race my watch said ….
I should have taken Sunday off completely but snuck in a 2 mile run at the High School.
And Monday was Labor Day so I labored my body and did a hard 4 hour ride. It was sunny but cool, perfect conditions.
Tuesday I ran 3.1 miles after swimming and made a chart to track my running progress. Getting from 3 to 26 miles in 9 weeks would NOT be advisable if I had a choice. But I have run many marathons and done 2 Ironman races so I am confident I will be able to run 26 miles after the 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride in Florida. I will NOT be able to run the marathon off the bike in 4:30 as I have in the past but even if it takes me 5 or 5:30 that will be fine.
I actually ran 5 miles today after a long pool swim and felt good. I almost pushed it to 6 miles but don’t want to rush the buildup and get another injury! In a few weeks I get another ankle X-ray and if it is good I will then switch from grass to pavement for my runs. My goal is to do a 3 hour run 2 weeks before the race and then taper.
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