It seems like I keep having a lot of good training weeks with each one topping the previous. Much like the week before, I was able to get quality workouts in each discipline. It’s a good thing though because I need to be pretty much in taper mood now since I have 4 big events over the next 5 weeks.
Swimming: I ended up with two 1.5 mile swims and two 1.2 mile swims. I’m still not getting much faster in the water but I can tell my endurance is really building because I’m not nearly as tired when I’m finished with the workout. However, no matter how hard I pull through the water, I don’t get faster, I just get out of breath. That’s ok though, I’m focused more on building a base for IM next year anyway.
Bike: I had planned on riding 3 days this week but only ended up with two. I decided to take Sunday off as part of my taper for Nationals this weekend. Thursday night was the quickest Thursday ride we’ve had so far; 27 miles @ 20.6 average. Then, on Saturday, Jeff and I ended up getting a 53 miler at 22.5 mph average. This is nearly 1 mph faster than our previous best. It was an incredible feeling. Jeff and I took turns pulling on the areas of the course that we're each best at. This was the third weekend I have done this course and I now have my nutrition for the half IM perfected. Jeff road another 60-70 on Sunday but as I noted above, I needed a rest for my taper.
Run: This week seemed all out the long/moderately long runs. Monday was they typical 6 miler. However, on Wednesday, I ended up with a 10 miler at close to an 8:00 min pace. Then, I decided to run long on Friday with Brett and ended up with an 8 miler at nearly an 8:00 min pace. To some people, these aren’t “LONG” runs, but they are long runs for half marathon training as part of a half ironman training program. Plus, I ran them all at roughly my race pace… I got 24 miles in at race pace this week. Maybe I should consider lowering my half ironman race pace?
Nationals is this weekend. I’m in taper mood right now which is incredibly hard for me. Those of you who know me know that I love training and to really cut back and/or take a rest day is hard. I plan on only swimming twice, running twice, and biking once this week. I’ll take Friday off and then race on Saturday. I plan on doing a 50-60 mile ride with Doug and Jeff on Sunday to at least get some decent mileage in this week. Not sure how Nationals is going to go. I plan on taking a long time in the water (probably 35 mins as compared to 20-25 mins for most of my age group), complete the bike course at around a 21-22mph average, and run a sub 7:30 for the run portion. In all, I hope to complete it somewhere around 2 hours and 35 mins. Not a bad time at all, but compared to the professionals and other age group winners there, I will probably come in towards the bottom of the field.
Week totals: 4 swims (5.5 miles), 3 runs (24 miles @ race pace), and two bikes (80 miles @ 20+mph).
Upcoming Events:
-Nationals (this weekend)
-Hood to Coast (next weekend)
-Clarksville Century (the following weekend)
-Augusta Half Ironman (five weeks away)
-Jack/Back 150 miler (six weeks away)
No comments:
Post a Comment