Long Training Day

Today was a long training day. I got up insanely early, drove down to work, did my 1 hour ride (20.3 miles, 181 watts) followed by my 16 mile run. It actually turned out to be 15.9 according to mapmytri.com, but it was still a strong run. I was doing 10 minute pickups to slightly harder effort with 10 minute "recovery" and did 4 sets throughout the run. Then, for the last 30 minutes, I cruised back to work. I averaged right around a 7:30 pace per mile and made it back to work by 8:30. I felt stronger than I did last time I did this workout. I was a little slower, but it was less time at the harder pace. But I had some juice left for the end of the run, so that made me happy. I am consistently doing well under 8 minute pace for all my runs after rides, even the long rides. It will be very interesting to see what I can do the Louisville marathon in.

Then at lunch, I hit the pool for my 2800 yd workout. It was the same swim I did Wednesday where I did my usual 200 warmup and 800 drills. Then it's 3x200 on 3:20 followed by 2 sets of 4x50 on 0:52 and one last set of 3x200 on 3:20. Usually, my 50s are about 0:43 initially, but then drop to 0:44/0:45. Today I was doing 0:43 consistently. Then, on my last set of 200s, I was hitting 3:07 for the last two. I had a better feel for using my body-roll as thrust, particularly on my non-breathing side. Sometimes I do bilateral breathing, but for hard sets, I am still doing mostly strong-side breathing. In any case, I felt pretty good about it and I think I have gotten back on the path to more swim improvement/endurance whereas the last couple of weeks have felt pretty sluggish.

Tomorrow, to top off my extend week, is a 65 mile ride with lots of hills followed by a 6 mile run. It's our annual "Tour de Folsom" with a bunch of people from work, so I am looking forward to it!