5 weeks...

5 weeks until my only Ironman distance race of the year, Beach 2 Battleship which will be held in Wilmington, NC.  I am super excited.  My goal was to put in a 6 week stretch with my highest volume of the year before tapering down for 2 weeks.  The 6 weeks is all training and no racing.  Last week I dropped the volume a bit after increasing for 2 weeks.  I swam 6,300 yards, biked 200 miles, and ran 52 miles.  I have been really consistent with the training and I have 3 weeks to go with this one planned as a really big one on the bike.  My goal for the 6 weeks was to average 60 miles running, 200+ biking, and not swim a lot until the last 3 weeks.  I also have attended my strength class at Barre563 consistently twice a week and have really benefitted from that.  Yesterday I did a long open water straight swim of 4,400 yards and the lake is a great temperature.  I'm guessing it was 70 degrees and it felt nice in the Vendetta sleeveless.  When it drops under 66 degrees I'll go with the full suit but I plan to keep swimming these long open water swims until it gets to about 60 degrees.  I'm hoping that will get me close to the race.  I learned before Pigman that my swimming improved quickly by doing these long open water swims.  I mix in hard and easy swimming during the continuous efforts.  For the 2nd straight week I did a long ride of 115 miles on Saturday.  I rode this one entirely solo which probably lead to a harder effort than when I start with a group.  I'd prefer to start with a group to keep that ride easy until the last 20 miles or so when I like to push the hills while the legs are fatigued.  Last week my ride was with a group for the first 50 miles and when I finished my average speed was 19.7 mph.  This week I was about 21.0 mph for the 115 which I could tell later in the evening had my legs feeling more tired.  Sunday morning I would test myself on those tired legs by running the QC 1/2 Marathon.  My goal was to be able to run 6 minute tempo effort throughout without it feeling very difficult.  My legs were more tired than I predicted and the first mile of 6:00 did not feel so easy.  I wondered how I would hold up but continued to hold that pace or a bit under and actually it never got tougher.  In the last mile I had a guy about 15 seconds ahead of me and I decided to see if I had another gear.  I ran the last mile in about 5:35 to pass him which was a big confidence boost that after a long ride I could still drop the pace down.  I ran 1 hr. 17 min. 30 seconds for the 1/2 marathon.  This is a VERY well run event...one of the best marathons and 1/2 marathons in the Midwest.  It was a great weekend of training for me.  I rode 2 hours afterwards and felt better when I finished riding.  I was also a bit nervous entering the race because I weighed in that morning at 164 lbs.  I had gotten worried about the long ride and took in a lot of calories on Saturday night.  I also ate a big breakfast consisting of 2 servings of hash browns mixed with 8 ounces of steak and a banana after weighing in.   I would like to run the marathon at the end of B2B at a much lower weight.  Already after eating clean for 2 days I weighed in this morning at 159 lbs.  I know it is now or never for eating healthy to get a bit leaner for this race.  I'll take the now on that one so I don't regret it on Oct. 26th.  I can't wait!  DREAM BIG!