Muskoka 70.3 specialization plan: week 5

This week was likely the peak of my mileage for my Muskoka training. Overall, another really good one as we build towards the race.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 2000m swim; TR - Elwell (70 minutes threshold/VO2 max intervals)
Wednesday: 9k run; 3k open water swim
Thursday: TR Polar Bear (2 hours tempo) + 4.5k brick run
Friday: 8k run
Saturday: 138k ride
Sunday: 16k long run; 1700m swim; TR - Townsend (90 minutes aerobic)

That was the most mileage I've done in a week, ever. And I feel really great. Let's not discuss the food situation, but I am getting pretty pumped up for this half ironman!

Tuesday's trainer workout was every bit the sufferfest I expected. I held on, but my god it was hard.

And the best part is I get to repeat that workout again this week - but the rest breaks are all one minute shorter.

So yeah, just super excited about THAT.

Wednesday I ran and threw in some tempo pace intervals that felt great. Running is what it is right now. Some days it feels great, some days it doesn't. Just going with the flow, really.

Hey they cleared all the weeds out of the garden in front of my office! Nice!

Then at OWS Wednesday night Laurence said he wanted to do three loops for 3k total, and it wasn't like I could let him do that alone. I am easy to convince of these sorts of things. So, a solid 3k swim!

Swimmers hitting the water at Gullivers

Thursday a great ride on the trainer - holding tempo effort felt a lot easier than the last time through that one, so that was good. Short brick after because I'm a triathlete and I'm supposed to do that sort of thing occasionally.

June flowers!

Friday... Friday I decided not to do my planned trainer ride. I had a big ride planned for Saturday and wanted to be fresh for that, and also I figured since it was an easy ride it would make a good recovery on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday Emma was not very happy with Friday Emma. Friday night Emma can be a real bitch sometimes.

Saturday's ride was, to quote my 11 year old, Totally Epic. I had mentioned to Laurence that I wanted to ride 120k, he came up with a mildly terrifying route (1100m of climbing? yay?), and we set off at dawn. We missed a turn and ended up riding 138k instead (oops!), but it was completely awesome. Under 5 hours ride time, minimal stopping, and a nice average speed of 28.3 km/hr.

Almost 140k chasing @hairy_lairry is a hell of a great morning! #im703muskoka #triathlontraining #ironcanucks #yaybikes

A photo posted by Emma I (@egrrrl) on Jun 18, 2016 at 7:45am PDT

I did spend some of the ride hoping Sam and Irina were also having a good time - I'd come up with a route for them that was, um, kind of hilly. I think we're all still friends but I need to buy them chocolates or something. Hills are how I express my love, you guys. And I really love you.

(I'm not sure they are going to buy that)

At any rate, my second longest ride ever and it was fantastic. I have gotten a lot stronger this year, that's for sure!

Sunday, to fit things in, I had to start my run really early. Which at least means sunrise pictures!

I love how this turned out. Especially how you can see my giant calves that make buying fashionable boots in the fall a huge pain in the...well, the calf. 

The pictures from the long run make it look a lot better than it felt. The phrase 'hot garbage' has been used quite a few times to describe it. That's how it goes sometimes.

Doesn't that look all idyllic with the birds and all? Yeah, I was standing on the Burlington Pier, which was just covered in garbage from the Sound of Music festival the night before. There were what seemed like about a thousand seagulls squawking and fighting over food scraps right behind me. It was disgusting and loud. Instagram lies, yo. 

I survived the run, and managed to fit in a short swim (in the outdoor 50m pool, yes!). I cut the last couple of hundred meters off my swim to offer some help to a guy who was trying out a wetsuit and had managed to put it on inside out. I think I earned some triathlon good karma by letting him know and then giving him some tips for getting into it! And that aerobic bike later in the day to finish it off. Whew. No wonder I had two breakfasts this morning. And I'm currently contemplating 2nd lunch.

This week, the mileage will drop but the intensity remains high. Peak week before the taper! (such as a Trainerroad taper is, anyway. They take that 'maintain intensity' thing seriously)

Monday: rest:
Tuesday: swim; TR Sierra (65 minutes threshold/VO2 intervals)
Wednesday: run, OWS
Thursday: TR Echo +2 (90 minutes sweet spot/threshold) + brick run
Friday: Short outside ride to test my new tires
Saturday: Welland sprint triathlon (750m swim; 20k bike; 5k run)
Sunday: Welland long course triathlon (2k swim; 56k bike; 15k run)

Racing!! Yes!! Shit I should probably have practiced transitions more. Oh well. The plan is to go all out at the sprint on Saturday (intensity!), then do a hard effort in the swim/bike on Sunday and hopefully run a half iron type pace. Although realistically the run on Sunday will more likely be 'whatever pace I need to survive'. The forecast is, as is typical for triathlons I'm participating in, hot hot hot. Yay! Super pumped to be back to racing again.