Closing it out

As I was watching the Masters yesterday afternoon, I was surprised to see many professional golfers fault down the stretch. While it made for exciting TV and I am sure great ratings, I realized how difficult it must be for athletes of all abilities to succeed under pressure. Kenny Perry had his opportunity before bogeying the final two holes, Phil Mickleson was cruising until he missed two short putts in the final four holes, Chad Campbell missed his par putt on the first hole of a playoff after he missed the green from the middle of the fairway.

Closing out a competition or a training session, whether it be in golf or triathlon is essential to success. Throughout this season, I have had some good success in training throughout the week, only to have some disappointing performances on the weekend. As many triathletes understand, the sessions on the weekend tend to have the most volume and increased intensity. For example, I did a training ride (on the trainer, again!!) on Friday evening. It lasted four hours, and included 6 intervals that were either at threshold pace (all out) or half ironman wattage (about 250-270). I was doing really well for about 2.5 hours, and then I hit some serious trouble. My legs became heavy and it became a struggle to put out the same power that I was so easily able to do just a few hours ago. Chalk it up to boredom, improper nutrition, or just fatigue, but I was not able to close out that workout the way I wanted it to be.

Conversely, I did a run on Saturday afternoon. Per Jim's directions, I was to do a bit of a warm up then run about 30 minutes in heart rate zone two. I was feeling pretty good, and managed to run the last 40 minutes at a 6:36 pace with an average heart rate of 146 beats per minute. Unlike my prior day’s bike ride, I was able to close this run out on a high. Running that pace with a lower heart rate is a sign that my running economy is developing well. This is a good sign because a main focus of my training has been developing the run. Come Hawaii, I hope my run leads me to close out a terrific race day. All for now! Happy training!

SJI