Intervals

The Ironman is less than one month away. I am almost done with my long workouts and ready for the taper. Today I decided to run some intervals in the neighborhood. There is a nice 0.9 mile loop with a serious climb in it (200 ft over 0.25 miles). It is pretty steep with only a slight let-up in the middle. Then there is a nice smooth descent. After a 1.25 mile warm-up, I ran the loop 7 times, and then finished with a few more hills and a nice jog home. All in all about 8.5 miles.

So far training is going well. Knock-on-wood, no injuries, although my right achilles does ache slightly from time to time and my calf does feel a bit stiff then. But so far it has been steady, neither getting worse nor noticeably better. Occasionally my left knee will act up a bit too, right above the patella, but that too seems contained. The shoulder is much better and I think I will survive the 2.4 mile swim, although I may have to resort to some breaststroke near the end.

I ended today's workout with a nice 1.25 mi swim. Keep your fingers crossed.