Week four of training was a good week. For the first time I made a workout on 6 of 7 days as scheduled. I did fudge them a little bit towards the end of the week, because on Sunday I had a race scheduled. It was a little stressful to consider how to train through the race (versus taper and rest), because I didn't want to be too gassed for the race, but I also didn't really want to miss any big training sessions). So, here's how it broke down:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: bike 45 min with 8 x 1 minute hard efforts (I went 46:25min)
Wednesday: swim 1000m with 6 x 50m sprints/run 4.5mi
Thursday: bike 40min plus 8 hard minutes
Friday: swim 1000m/run 4.5mi
Saturday: swim 1400m/run 4.5 mi (scheduled to run 9mi)
Sunday: bike 45 min/10 min transition run (scheduled to bike 35mi with 10 min transition run) & Flying Pig relay where I ran 7mi that morning
I had some of my best swim times this week, and can now swim 300m at a time without a 20sec rest! Up from 200m last week. I am trying to go longer each time without resting, and I am definitely feeling more comfortable all the time in the water, in the pool that is.
Still frustrating has been biking in the gale force winds. It's hard to enjoy being out there because sometimes the wind is so strong it slows me to around 10mph and just feels like pedaling against a wall. It's so annoying and just relentless for long stretches on the country roads with no wind break. I hope that once spring passes and summer weather comes on, this eases up a little.
My hip feels better, and also worse. The pain is more intense, but less chronic. Does that make sense? I keep icing it and stretching it, and hoping for a miracle.
And, finally....it was also race week! I met up with 3 friends this weekend to run the Flying Pig Marathon Relay. Out of 160 teams, we placed 5th! I felt very strong on my leg, but noticed that my arms felt very tired (probably related to the 1400m I swam the day before), and so at the end of my section, when my legs were tiring, I couldn't rely on my arms as much to help me finish. Another good practice session for 70.3, no doubt. After a long day of swimming and biking, I doubt my arms will be much good at the end of 13.1 miles either. This also proved to me that I need to keep trying to fit in some strength training to help fight that muscle fatigue.
I was high off our good showing at the relay, and had a hard time convincing myself to get on my bike for a little bit, but I'm glad I did, even for just a short ride. My legs were like lead marshmallows when I hopped off and did a 10 minute run at the end...oy, the life of a triathlete...
Looking forward to a rest day today!
Monday, May 5, 2014
Friday, May 2, 2014
Group Swim
A valuable lesson in triathlon swim happened today. I don't normally swim on Friday mornings because of work, but I was off today and so I hit the pool. Walked in about my normal time (6:05am) and to my horror the pool was so crowded! There are only 6 lanes, and they all had multiple people in them already. I froze, and was thinking about whether I should just go run and skip my swim and try to make it up later, or what. I spied a lane with only 1 person in it, and decided to go for it.
It was crazy. I was passing people on both sides each lap going one direction or another, the water was "choppier" than normal because of all the people in there, and I really had to look around a lot more than I usually do (obviously, so I didn't swim into someone). And the person in my lane was doing a different stroke each lap, of course, so it was harder to look out for her because I never knew what to expect her to be doing. And then one time she passed me and her hand touched my foot! I momentarily panicked like there might be a throw down in the pool, but she kept on swimming, and then I realized that I was hugging my lane marker and she was definitely hogging the middle, and she came up on me, so what was I worried about...other than she clearly didn't want to be sharing because she never did move over. Pool etiquette, woman!
While not ideal for me, I did swim a better time than on Wednesday at the same distance, and it was good to be swimming around so many other bodies because I have a feeling that is going to be complete chaos on race day, except at least then we'll all be headed, hopefully, in the same direction!
It was crazy. I was passing people on both sides each lap going one direction or another, the water was "choppier" than normal because of all the people in there, and I really had to look around a lot more than I usually do (obviously, so I didn't swim into someone). And the person in my lane was doing a different stroke each lap, of course, so it was harder to look out for her because I never knew what to expect her to be doing. And then one time she passed me and her hand touched my foot! I momentarily panicked like there might be a throw down in the pool, but she kept on swimming, and then I realized that I was hugging my lane marker and she was definitely hogging the middle, and she came up on me, so what was I worried about...other than she clearly didn't want to be sharing because she never did move over. Pool etiquette, woman!
While not ideal for me, I did swim a better time than on Wednesday at the same distance, and it was good to be swimming around so many other bodies because I have a feeling that is going to be complete chaos on race day, except at least then we'll all be headed, hopefully, in the same direction!
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