19 weeks into official Ironman training and I’m tired.  The past 3 wks have been marginal at best, with power levels on the bike dropping (when they should be improving) and a feeling like I’m unable to fully recover.  14 of the past 17 weeks have included 20+ hours/week of training.  Light week this past week and still tired.  So it’s time for some adjustments as we head into the final 10 wks of training before tapering.  Here’s the plan:

• Take 3 days off completely.  No swimming, biking, running or strength training
• Nutrition has been consistently good.  Re-assess a couple of the supplements, but otherwise continue trend
• Use the extra time to grab a little extra sleep and crank out some additional hours at work on some major projects that need attention
• Cut alcohol from my meals almost completely (special occasions excepted).  I don’t drink much alcohol, but have consistently been drinking a glass with dinner most nights the past month.  Some studies indicate depth of sleep can be negatively influenced by alcohol, and since I often eat within a couple hrs of bed, it’s worth nixing it through race day
• Trim down the massive workouts.  The 8 hr, 8 1/2 hr and 9 hr fueling test days went well, but it took a long time to recover once over 9 hrs.  So will cut back my planned 9 1/2 hr day on the 11th down to 8 hrs and not exceed 9 hrs when I go out to ride the course in March

If all goes well, I’ll slide into next week rested and ready to crank out 10 good, solid, purpose-driven weeks of training.  Then taper 3 weeks and it’s game time!