Ironman training week 14

Getting so close to the end of the base building phase now! This is both exciting (ooooh a new training plan to obsess over) and terrifying (there are only how many more months until race day?!).

This was a really great week, though, so I'm feeling confident. Had really solid workouts across all three sports and I'm feeling very fit right now. Just have to maintain that and stay healthy.

Swim: 7800m
Bike: 202 km (6:30)
Run: 58 km

Monday: rest! And eat all the things!

Tuesday: 2200m swim; 8.5k lunch run; TR Mist

Getting up at 5 am to swim isn't really getting any easier, but it's a much more efficient use of my time than most of the other options so I keep doing it. There was someone else in the pool when I got there just finishing up his workout (!!), so I'm not the only crazy person...

The weather is getting to me. So grim.

Lunch run was easy paced and nothing special, then a solid go at a set of VO2s on the bike in the evening. After failing the VO2s the week before, I lowered the workout intensity a bit but it ended up being too easy and I had to put it back up as I worked through the intervals. Still, it ended up a solid effort with plenty of suffering.

Wednesday: 12k run; weights

I hope my shirt is bright enough for the sleepy drivers to spot me (I also wear an LED armband and a lot of my gear has reflective details. And yet I still have to assume they are going to kill me, because NO ONE LOOKS. Especially drivers turning right. They will not see runners, ever.)

The midweek long run is officially back in play. It's not the most fun time of day to run, but if I'm going to work this one up to 14/16/18k or so, #5amrunclub is the only way to go. At least soon I'll be able to see the sunrise on those runs!

Thursday: 9k run. TR-Tray Mountain

Could not get out of bed for swim, which was fine. That's why there are Fridays, after all, to make up those missed ones!

Easy 9 at lunch, some sort of sweet spot nonsense on Thursday night on the trainer. Just putting in the time.

Friday: 2500m swim; TR Galena

God swimming is frustrating. Such a lot of work to stay in the exact same place. This week I continued to focus on keeping my feet up, while also sort of relaxing a bit and using my full stroke, as I've found I end up going faster with less effort when I do distance per stroke drills. By slowing down a bit and focusing on pulling through the full stroke, I seem to go a tiny bit faster with less effort, which seems like a win. It seemed to work as I was able to swim a 1:57/100m pace in the final 300m set of this workout, which for me is a pretty solid effort, especially after already swimming 2000 meters. I dunno. I need some intense time with a coach but that's not going to happen so I'll just focus on swimming comfortably and developing my endurance. I'm being very very good about following the rest times in my swim workouts, keeping them often extremely short (10 seconds rest is just a cruel tease), which can probably only help.

(Sam also pointed out that I don't even deserve to have a GoPro if I'm not going to post some damn swim pics already. YES MA'AM. I will do better this week, I swear!)

Then, yet more sweet spot work in the evening with the trainer. Talk about a lot of work to go nowhere in one day!

Saturday: TR Polar Bear; 6k brick run; weights

Big workout of the week, 2 hours of tempo on the trainer. I was not looking forward to this - in and of itself, not that difficult a ride, just requires a lot of mental focus because the effort is right on the line of wanting to ease off just a little bit. But I knew it would feel harder because I'd be going in with tired legs from the sweet spot ride the night before. But that's kind of the idea. You can't train for an Ironman without learning to do the work on tired legs!

All in all it went pretty well, and then the brick run after was the capper. I wouldn't say it felt easy, but it felt better than I expected! Mostly I spent it focused on how annoying it is to be looking at snow in April...

Forced myself to the gym to lift weights in the afternoon, because I think that's been really helping me this training cycle. Haven't talked about that much but I'm still having fun and gradually increasing the weights I'm lifting on most exercises.

I swear I tried to smile while I was taking this form check video. FAIL. (deadlift form looked spot on, though, which is probably more important) (I mostly just like my arm muscles here) (vanity)

Sunday: 22k run; 3100m swim

It was cold, but this was a solid run. Aimed for 2:15, felt great through about 2 hours then got a little cranky towards the end. Not much to complain about there!

I really, really didn't want to swim (my legs were tired and telling me to just spend the day on the couch) but I talked myself into going for a half hour, and then somehow being all relaxed and swimming loose felt good (and faster than usual) and I ended up finishing out the whole workout for a 3k swim. And my legs felt so much better after. Swimming after the long run is the best, if you can talk yourself into doing it.

So, pretty big week, pretty much nailed it. One more big week before recovery and the end of base building! Some nasty looking workouts to get through, but you do have to earn those recovery weeks, after all...