It’s coming up on three weeks since The Toughest Ironman EVER™, and it’s one week until I hit the scary age of 50. A couple of days later, I’m racing Lance Armstrong I will be in the same race as Lance Armstrong at the Ironman Hawaii 70.3. Actually, I’m pretty sure I was in the same race as Lance back in 1987 at the President’s Triathlon in Dallas, but I can’t find any documentation for that online. I know that I did the race, but it might have been 1986 — one’s memory fades when one gets to be my age. Anyway, that was when Lance was a 15-year-old triathlon pro and I was a mediocre 24- or 25-year-old age grouper in the relatively early days of the sport. Now I’m 50, goddammit, and I’m gunning for him. 🙂

Not that he should be sweating it. I’m not even sweating it, because this wasn’t even originally on my race schedule. I love going to Hawaii, but I’m a little snake-bitten in this particular race — it’s one of the harder half IMs on the circuit due to the heat and winds (and even the swim can be pretty choppy). So I don’t really have great expectations going in, which sometimes means you end up having a great race, and other times…

I’ve been using TrainingPeaks to monitor my IMStG recovery, and I have done a few key workouts — mostly some intensity to remind the muscles and cardio system what it’s like to go hard. Here’s the latest Performance Management Chart:

I ran quite a Training Stress Balance deficit by doing IM St. George, but a week-long work trip in Europe after the race forced me into little post-race training (though not exactly rest and recovery), and I’ve gradually reintegrated training. Still, I sometimes feel as though I’m teetering on the razor’s edge between fitness and illness. What I do know is that my power numbers on the bike are still down, particularly at the high end. On the other hand, running-wise I was able to knock out a few 1km repeats in around 3:40 (about 5:55 mile pace) on Sunday before deciding not to press my luck, so I’ve still got a little leg speed.

We’ll see — I’m looking forward to a nice time on Maui and the Big Island, and the race will be a little lab experiment.