Week18 ? ? Seriously?

Run Miles - 18.3
Bike Miles - 84.36
Swim Miles - 3.068

Total workout time - 11 hours 30 mins

I oddly don't have too much to say about this weeks happenings. I did miss a brick workout (well 2 brick workouts i guess), but I was still pretty beat up from my Oly race that I just wanted to sleep and sleep more.

I am pretty sure that I am no longer following the "Competitive" program in Be Iron Fit, and am now following some sort of mix of the Competitive and Intermediate program. The Intermediate program is exactly like the Competitive, except the 0:45/0:30 brick on Tuesday is only 0:45/0:15, and the easy spin on the long run, and the brick on the long bike are dropped.  I tend to still do 0:45/0:30 on Tues. and I tend to do the brick on the long bike half the time... so.. yeah, I'm sorta in the middle. Basically, I need to remind myself that even though I'm missing some of the workouts, I'm actually just missing the Competitive program aspect of this training, and I should still be okay come November!

Bike still feels fantastic, and the swim is coming along quite nicely. I still run slow as a turtle.. but I'm okay with this.

Feeling good, but really kinda waiting for this training to be over.. it's getting harder and harder to do the workouts. I just want to sit on the couch and do nothing!

Week 17 - My First Olympic Race!

Well, I suppose my way of putting in pictures makes everything just a tad too small to read, so I'll flesh it out better in words.

As you can see, week 17 was AGAIN, another light week. Partly due to my being lazy, and another part of me wanting to do real life things instead of putting the training first. I have it in my mind that now the olympic race is done, I will go back to my "No excuses" attitude and finish the last 13 weeks strong.

So, olympic distance race! Almost the right distance according to the garmin. It was a 1500m swim, a 19 mile bike, and a 6.4 mile run. My paces were approximately 2:16/100m (2:06/100yd), 17.1 mph bike, and a 10:44min/mile.  I really think I'm okay with these paces too! My goal was to go in there and go sub 3 hours on this race, and I did it all in 2:56:19! I wasn't the fastest (8th overall female), I also wasn't the slowest (out of 15 :P), so I'm happy with what I did!

I am pretty sore the day after the race. More sore than I would have expected. Mainly in my shoulders, back, and right glute. During the swim, I continue to feel the restriction on my arms in the wetsuit, but I also don't expect it to ever feel like I'm NOT wearing the suit. I need to do more open water swimming. The idea is to go every other weekend from here on out. The bike leg felt real good! The only issue I had was that the first 10 miles or so, it was hard to stay in aero position on my bike, and every hill felt like a mountain. I drank 20 oz of Perform and ate about half of a Powerbar (which are kinda gross, and I'll never eat again). The run leg was tough! It was a trail run, relatively flat with soft dirt from everyone else running on it. I kept a good pace considering the terrain I think. I drank water at every aid station, and then dumped some on my head. The water really helped my stomach feel better.. even though it didn't feel particularly upset, the water just felt good in my stomach.

Now its back to the grind for a few more weeks, then I do my mock half Ironman distance! Things are moving along quick. Only 3 more Build phase weeks, then into Peak phase (which by looking at it, looks just like build phase anyways...). Getting closer, and the Olympic was the longest tri I've done ever, and I'm feeling good.

Week 16 -

Running - ~22.21 miles
Cycling - ~60.32 miles
Swimming - ~5,225 yards

Still coming off from my cold this week. The post-congestion that has stuck around has made it kinda hard to do my higher intensity run/bikes, but I'm doing alright.

According to the "Competitive Program", I should have clocked in 14 hours total this week. 1) I cut my 1 hour bike on the 9th by 30 mins, I just wasn't feeling it =/,  2) I tend to ignore the easy spin that is asked of me on Saturdays, 3) I managed to cut 15 mins off the long bike AND I didn't want to run afterwards. bleh  4) I also skipped a swim because I planned to go to Long Beach saturday morning, but didn't feel like doing that either. :(

I think this week was still a recovery back from being sick and just a week of low motivation to complete everything I had my mind set on doing. Next week is low volume due to my Olympic race on Sunday! So, I am hoping that with a light week and a motivating race, I'll be able to jump back into the swing of things

Week 15 - Half way there and I got a cold

Oooo, look at how empty this week looks!

I had an amazing swim Wednesday morning, I broke 1:30/100yrds (1:25 and 1:28, to be exact), and was feeling pretty awesome about that. But, come maybe around 2pm that day, I started to feel pretty run down and my throat was scratchy, I decided that I would avoid the run that evening and just do it Thursday morning. Well, next morning rolls around and I could tell I wasn't just run down, I was actually kinda sick with something. :(

Somehow I was able to convince myself that I should rest on Friday as well. I did wake up Friday for swim, took a couple deep breaths and was like, "Nope, not happening!" and went back to bed. I felt not too shabby Friday evening, but still took the day off thinking that I should be all better come Saturday. I woke up Saturday with a bit of a scratchy throat and congestion, but figured it was just left overs of the cold.

Well... that turned out to be a bad idea. About 50 mins into my easy weekend run, I just felt terrible. Walk, jog, walk, jog, walk the rest of the way home, cut the run short. Sauntered into the shower, and came out looking pretty darn pale, no color in the lips, laid down on the bed for a little, then managed to get up to go to lunch. I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes without feeling sick, but felt a little better after eating. The rest of the day was pretty much lay around until I had the energy to go to my niece's birthday party. Ducked out early because I started to feel run down again. Bleh. Took Sunday and Monday morning off. Woke up Monday without the scratchy throat and did my afternoon run.

What I learned is that I should have just waited! I gained nothing from going for my run on Saturday. If anything I set myself back a day or two. And when I ran on Monday, I took it somewhat easy, but in no way did I actually lose ANY fitness!

Getting sick was pretty much one of the top things I did not want to happen during my training, so when I got this cold, I had some moments of panic and dread, but really I don't think I should have worried. I've been working hard at this, and 5 days off shouldn't set me back, and it doesn't appear it has. So this is all good!