I was originally going to do the Olympic distance race on Sunday, but I was heading to Tahoe with the fam on Saturday afternoon, so I decided to do the Sprint Triathlon instead. This is the same race where I did my first triathlon in June of 2005, which also happened to be the last time I did a sprint distance tri. I was looking forward to going all out to see how I could do in a shorter race about speed and not endurance.
Prerace was uneventful. I picked up my stuff and got my transition area set up. I was racing on a loaner bike, but had my saddle and my race wheels. I was also planning on trying my new speedsuit in the water. Normally I would wear a wetsuit, but Louisville is no wetsuits, and I got this speedsuit at a HUGE discount, so I thought I'd give it a try. My swim was a tad disappointing in that I thought I would've been a touch faster. I was on the beach in 15:20 and heading up towards T1. My transition was not particularly fast. I did take the time to put on socks, which for a sprint is probably not necessary. I've just never tried it without.
Swim: 15:21
T1: 2:33
Now I was off on my bike. The Cervelo loaner I've got from the bike shop fits me pretty well and my plan was to hammer as hard as I could, since this was a sprint distance race. The course is 16 miles out and back. On the way out of the park I was going hard and getting into a rhythym, except there are a few turns as you leave the park. Out on the main road, I knew the wind was at my back and it would be a little harder on the way in. I kept pushing and was passing people left and right. I made it to the turnaround in 19:30, and headed back. On the way back, it was definitely more windy and slightly more hilly (more uphill than on the way out). I got back to the transition area in about 40:20, so I lost about 2 minutes off my pace on the way back, but still not bad. I averaged 23.7 for the 16 miles and did an average of 292 watts. I figure that's right about where my FTP is. I got into the transition area, took my helmet off, put my shoes and hat on and took off.
Bike: 40:20
T2: 1:00
The run is an out and back 3 miler on a fire road around the lake. No big hills, but some undulating terrain. My legs were a little wobbly at first, but after about the first 3-4 minutes, I settled into a good pace. I got to the first mile mark in about 6:20 I think. I kept pushing and passed a couple more people in my age group. I was to the turnaround in about 9:50. On the way back I kept pushing hard as I wanted to break 20:00 for the run. I finished off the run in 19:13 (~6:24 per mile pace). Amazing to think that the pros do this pace (or faster) for a marathon!! And that's after riding 112 miles!!
Run: 19:13
Overall: 1:18:35
Overall place: 12th
AG place: 2nd
When I did this race in 2005, I did this course in 1:39, so I cut 21 minutes off that time in 4 years. Not too bad for a sprint! It felt good to go hard for a short distance and see how much speed I have. I'm still not as fast as the real speedsters, but have definitely gotten faster.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Bike Commute
Yesterday, I did my bike commute and was a little nervous as to how my legs would respond to my tough ride home, which had 2 sets of 5, 4, and 3 minute intervals at hard effort. Ironically, though, when I got to the Iron Point hill, I was still feeling pretty good and did an interval up the climb. I averaged 360 watts and never dropped below 8 mph on the climb!! Then, when I was approaching home, I did the Serrano hill and made it up in 7:35, which is about 15 or 20 seconds faster than I've ever done it and that was at the end of my hard 1:30 ride. I think the combination of an easier week followed by the Auburn race gave me a little bump in cycling fitness. Or perhaps it was just the easier week? Nonetheless, I was feeling strong.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Race Report - Auburn Long Course (World's Toughest Half)
Finally! My first race of the season. It's been a long time since 9/1/08, when I started the "new" training strategy/plan with a coach. This race is not my key race for the year, but it was supposed to be a good check point to see where my fitness is at this point in the season. My coach suggested I just go hard and not worry about pacing, but to really nail my nutrition and hydration (good advice) - so that was my plan. A 3-hr bottle of Perpetuem, a Hammer gel every 45 minutes on the bike, with 2 salt tablets (I use Endurolytes), and a bottle of water every 45 minutes to an hour. Then on the run, I was going to do a few swigs of Cytomax at every aid station and use my water bottle consistently through the first hour, possibly switching to water at the aid stations if I felt the need.
Everything leading up to the race went well and was uneventful. My wife went with me to T1 which is always nice. I got everything set up and hit the port-a-potty. Then with about 10 minutes to go, I went down to the water to get in and warm-up a bit. The water felt great - I think it was in the low 70s, which was quite comfortable. The wave start was all the men doing the half-iron, so it was fairly big. We got off to a bit of a late start because they were still setting the last buoy (which was a little concerning), but nonetheless, we were underway!
I tried to concentrate on my form during the swim and focus on high elbows and body position. I didn't get too abused during the melee at the beginning so I got into a decent groove heading towards the first buoy. When we rounded the edge of the lake and over to the buoy it was a little crowded, but not bad. Once to the first buoy, it really thinned out more and I was out in the open water. It was a little difficult to sight because they didn't have anything in between the 3 corner buoys of the diamond-shaped course. As a result, when it was all said-and-done, I think I extended the course a tad by going a bit too wide. I kept cruising along and didn't really have any problems. I was out of the water in 35:45 or so and got up the boat ramp and over the mat in like 36:00 even. I made my way up to my bike, got my wetsuit off, my helmet and shoes on, and headed off.
Swim Split: 36:00
T1: 2:43
The first 6-7 miles of the bike course are up-hill into Auburn. It's over 1000 feet up, I believe. I actually really like climbing, so this didn't really bother me. I was passing people already through this section pretty easily. I spent the first 15 minutes or so trying to get my HR settled a bit and then started my nutrition plan. Then I made it up into town and passed the finish/T2 and Emily was there to take a picture (which I will post as soon as I download it). As a went through town, I took some of the little, tiny roads (and use the word road loosely) that get you over to the other side of town. The course actually goes through the parking lot of a body shop and I couldn't quite figure out where it went after that, so I lost a few seconds. Even had a tried to pre-ride this section, I never would've been able to figure it out. In any case, I got over to the other side of town that I am more familiar with and headed out into the foothills. You basically keep gradually going up and up into the foothills along the I-80 frontage roads. Some really fast, short descents, some good climbs, and not great road quality. Once you get out there, there is a loop through a campground where you take a fun, roller-coaster style road, then a steep, curvy descent down to the river, then past the campground, and then do the 1.2 mile climb back out. As I made it down to the river and started the climb back out, I noticed the same, weird feeling on my bike as when the fork had rattled loose. I have a Felt tri bike with the Bayonet fork and thus far have not had good luck. I love everything else about the bike, but the fork has been nothing but trouble. So here I am with 25 miles to go and my fork is unstable and is causing some really weird handling.
I decided to just deal with it and stay focused on what I could control. The bike was still rideable, but I could not go into my aerobars for the rest of the race, so I had 25 miles of riding to do on my top bars... not ideal. Regardless, I kept pushing on as best I could and tried to concentrate on continuing with my nutrition to set up a decent run. As I started getting back close to town, I realized I was having a fairly good ride. Not too many people break 3:15 on this course because it has 6000' of climbing and is somewhat technical, but it was looking like I could get close to 3:10. I was still feeling pretty good and was starting to feel like I could have a good run. I made it back to T2 in 3:09 and got ready for my run. T2 was uneventful, which was nice and I headed out on my run.
Bike Split: 3:09
T2: 2:07
As I started the run, I knew I had some legs today, so I was encouraged and got started with a good mindset. I had passed a lot of people on the bike (I think only 1 guy in my age group passed me on the bike), but when I started the run, I knew I'd be passing a lot more. I did the 1st lap with a target HR of around 145-150 or so, which is fairly comfortable for me. I took my belt/bottle on the run, so I continued to drink water throughout the early part of the run. I also had 2 Hammer gels and some salt tablets with me. The course goes on some trails first and I did those easily, then headed up the hill towards the neighborhood/school. I made it around the loop at the school easily and cruised back down the hill. At this point, there's a section that goes into the state recreation area that has some hills, but it wasn't too bad. I was back from the 10K loop in around 45-46 minutes, I think. I was still feeling pretty good, so I pushed it a bit more on the 2nd loop and tried to keep my HR around 150-155. I kept clicking off 7:30 miles in spite of the hills. On the 2nd loop, there's an extra section to get it from 20K to the half-marathon distance and on this part, there's a fairly steep downhill on a trail, so I was careful on that section. Right through there, I passed one of the lead women and kept going. I did the out and back in the recreation area and had about 1.5 miles to go, mostly uphill, to the finish. By this time, I knew I could possibly break 1:40 on the run and 5:30 for the race, so I kept going. I made it back to the park and to the finish with a 1:38 run split and a 5:28 overall race time. Coming into the race, I was hoping to do a 5:45, so I was quite happy with a sub 5:30 on this really tough course. I knew not that many people would be breaking 5 anda half. I crossed the line, grabbed a drink, and then caught up with my family. They told me I migh've been top 15 or 20 overall!
Run Split: 1:38
Overall time: 5:28:38
Overall place: 18th out of 202 half-iron finishers
AG place: 4th out of 29 half-iron finishers
That afternoon, I called the bike shop and talked to the owner (who was the one who helped get me set up on my tri bike initially) and he was VERY accommodating, as he should be. When you spend this much money on a bike, you certainly expect it to be reliable. I dropped it off the next day and they were sending the frame/fork back to Felt to see what the deal was. They also gave me a Cervelo loaner that is a REALLY nice bike so I can race on that this weekend in the sprint and take it to Tahoe over the weekend for some training.
Looking back, after they posted the results, I saw that my swim time was 76th out of 202 HIM finishers and 14th out of 29 in my AG. My bike split was 30th overall and 5th out of 29 in my AG. My run split was 14th overall and 5th in my AG. I am getting stronger on the bike and am starting to be able to run fairly well off the bike. Only 13 other people in the whole race had better run splits and with respect to biking, I definitely was higher in my AG than I ever have been. Overall, I was very happy with this result and have made good progress with my coach. I was a little disappointed I wasn't slightly faster in the water and I was VERY frustrated by my bike, but nonetheless, I felt good physically and really nailed my nutrition plan. It was a great rehearsal for Louisville.
Everything leading up to the race went well and was uneventful. My wife went with me to T1 which is always nice. I got everything set up and hit the port-a-potty. Then with about 10 minutes to go, I went down to the water to get in and warm-up a bit. The water felt great - I think it was in the low 70s, which was quite comfortable. The wave start was all the men doing the half-iron, so it was fairly big. We got off to a bit of a late start because they were still setting the last buoy (which was a little concerning), but nonetheless, we were underway!
I tried to concentrate on my form during the swim and focus on high elbows and body position. I didn't get too abused during the melee at the beginning so I got into a decent groove heading towards the first buoy. When we rounded the edge of the lake and over to the buoy it was a little crowded, but not bad. Once to the first buoy, it really thinned out more and I was out in the open water. It was a little difficult to sight because they didn't have anything in between the 3 corner buoys of the diamond-shaped course. As a result, when it was all said-and-done, I think I extended the course a tad by going a bit too wide. I kept cruising along and didn't really have any problems. I was out of the water in 35:45 or so and got up the boat ramp and over the mat in like 36:00 even. I made my way up to my bike, got my wetsuit off, my helmet and shoes on, and headed off.
Swim Split: 36:00
T1: 2:43
The first 6-7 miles of the bike course are up-hill into Auburn. It's over 1000 feet up, I believe. I actually really like climbing, so this didn't really bother me. I was passing people already through this section pretty easily. I spent the first 15 minutes or so trying to get my HR settled a bit and then started my nutrition plan. Then I made it up into town and passed the finish/T2 and Emily was there to take a picture (which I will post as soon as I download it). As a went through town, I took some of the little, tiny roads (and use the word road loosely) that get you over to the other side of town. The course actually goes through the parking lot of a body shop and I couldn't quite figure out where it went after that, so I lost a few seconds. Even had a tried to pre-ride this section, I never would've been able to figure it out. In any case, I got over to the other side of town that I am more familiar with and headed out into the foothills. You basically keep gradually going up and up into the foothills along the I-80 frontage roads. Some really fast, short descents, some good climbs, and not great road quality. Once you get out there, there is a loop through a campground where you take a fun, roller-coaster style road, then a steep, curvy descent down to the river, then past the campground, and then do the 1.2 mile climb back out. As I made it down to the river and started the climb back out, I noticed the same, weird feeling on my bike as when the fork had rattled loose. I have a Felt tri bike with the Bayonet fork and thus far have not had good luck. I love everything else about the bike, but the fork has been nothing but trouble. So here I am with 25 miles to go and my fork is unstable and is causing some really weird handling.
I decided to just deal with it and stay focused on what I could control. The bike was still rideable, but I could not go into my aerobars for the rest of the race, so I had 25 miles of riding to do on my top bars... not ideal. Regardless, I kept pushing on as best I could and tried to concentrate on continuing with my nutrition to set up a decent run. As I started getting back close to town, I realized I was having a fairly good ride. Not too many people break 3:15 on this course because it has 6000' of climbing and is somewhat technical, but it was looking like I could get close to 3:10. I was still feeling pretty good and was starting to feel like I could have a good run. I made it back to T2 in 3:09 and got ready for my run. T2 was uneventful, which was nice and I headed out on my run.
Bike Split: 3:09
T2: 2:07
As I started the run, I knew I had some legs today, so I was encouraged and got started with a good mindset. I had passed a lot of people on the bike (I think only 1 guy in my age group passed me on the bike), but when I started the run, I knew I'd be passing a lot more. I did the 1st lap with a target HR of around 145-150 or so, which is fairly comfortable for me. I took my belt/bottle on the run, so I continued to drink water throughout the early part of the run. I also had 2 Hammer gels and some salt tablets with me. The course goes on some trails first and I did those easily, then headed up the hill towards the neighborhood/school. I made it around the loop at the school easily and cruised back down the hill. At this point, there's a section that goes into the state recreation area that has some hills, but it wasn't too bad. I was back from the 10K loop in around 45-46 minutes, I think. I was still feeling pretty good, so I pushed it a bit more on the 2nd loop and tried to keep my HR around 150-155. I kept clicking off 7:30 miles in spite of the hills. On the 2nd loop, there's an extra section to get it from 20K to the half-marathon distance and on this part, there's a fairly steep downhill on a trail, so I was careful on that section. Right through there, I passed one of the lead women and kept going. I did the out and back in the recreation area and had about 1.5 miles to go, mostly uphill, to the finish. By this time, I knew I could possibly break 1:40 on the run and 5:30 for the race, so I kept going. I made it back to the park and to the finish with a 1:38 run split and a 5:28 overall race time. Coming into the race, I was hoping to do a 5:45, so I was quite happy with a sub 5:30 on this really tough course. I knew not that many people would be breaking 5 anda half. I crossed the line, grabbed a drink, and then caught up with my family. They told me I migh've been top 15 or 20 overall!
Run Split: 1:38
Overall time: 5:28:38
Overall place: 18th out of 202 half-iron finishers
AG place: 4th out of 29 half-iron finishers
That afternoon, I called the bike shop and talked to the owner (who was the one who helped get me set up on my tri bike initially) and he was VERY accommodating, as he should be. When you spend this much money on a bike, you certainly expect it to be reliable. I dropped it off the next day and they were sending the frame/fork back to Felt to see what the deal was. They also gave me a Cervelo loaner that is a REALLY nice bike so I can race on that this weekend in the sprint and take it to Tahoe over the weekend for some training.
Looking back, after they posted the results, I saw that my swim time was 76th out of 202 HIM finishers and 14th out of 29 in my AG. My bike split was 30th overall and 5th out of 29 in my AG. My run split was 14th overall and 5th in my AG. I am getting stronger on the bike and am starting to be able to run fairly well off the bike. Only 13 other people in the whole race had better run splits and with respect to biking, I definitely was higher in my AG than I ever have been. Overall, I was very happy with this result and have made good progress with my coach. I was a little disappointed I wasn't slightly faster in the water and I was VERY frustrated by my bike, but nonetheless, I felt good physically and really nailed my nutrition plan. It was a great rehearsal for Louisville.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Good day
Results aren't up yet, so I'm not completely sure how I placed overall and in my age group, but I did a 5:28 on a REALLY tough course (6000 feet of climbing on the bike course). Race report to follow.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
To top it off... Tour de Folsom
So yesterday, I topped off the week with our annual Tour de Folsom ride. It was a great ride; we had like 19 people in the group for the long ride around the lake.
(That's me with the red circle on my jersey. I was also giving my race wheels a spin on a longer ride to make sure I have no issues before Sunday!)
The ride has ~4500 feet of vertical over ~55 miles. My plan had 65 on it followed by a 6 mile run, so I was intending to turn around at the top of a few of the climbs and repeat about half of them. I also rode down to my friends' house for an extra 4 mile pre-ride ride.
My legs were tired overall, but after a more intense week, I was pretty happy with how they held up. I made it up the first climb (~3 miles and ~1800 feet up) pretty easily and well ahead of anybody in the group. I turned around at the top and headed part of the way back down to do it again. I repeated and still felt pretty good and was holding ~280-300 watts most of the way on the hill. I caught up with the group at Pilot Hill where I got some more water. My plan on this ride was to make sure I was properly hydrated to see if that made my run better afterwards. I was going to try to do 1 bottle of water per hour minimum on top of my Perpetuem. In any case, I left Pilot Hill and headed towards the confluence. I took it very easy on the descent down into the canyon and we all regrouped down there. Then we hit the climb up to the Forest Hill bridge, which is another 3-miler with ~1800-2000 feet up. I got to the top of that and turned around and did about half of it again. Still felt pretty good and the hydration and calories seemed to be going well. I cruised down to the bridge and did the little short, steep climb up from that to Auburn. I stopped again in Auburn for more water. I went through town and caught up with the group briefly on the other side of town where people were taking a break at a popular market. I wanted to get my run done before too many of them got back for the pool party, so I just headed on down Auburn-Folsom. This is usually a very fast portion, but a head-wind was slowing me down somewhat. Finally, a couple more small climbs up to El Dorado Hills and my friends house for the post-ride run and pool party!
I did 6 miles and I think my improved hydration consistency paid off because I definitely felt much better on my run than I had been for a few weeks. I covered 6.1 miles in 45 minutes. Then it was a cold beer, lunch, and hitting the pool with my wife and kids for a little post-workout R&R!
Final ride stats for the day: 67 miles in 4 hours with ~5500 feet of climbing (average 183 watts) followed by a 6.1 mile run in 45 minutes.
Overall, my week was 19 hours of training consisting of 11100 yds in the pool, 158 miles biking, and 47 miles running. I am content with that, but I know I will need to continue doing weeks like that and harder as we progress through the summer.
(That's me with the red circle on my jersey. I was also giving my race wheels a spin on a longer ride to make sure I have no issues before Sunday!)The ride has ~4500 feet of vertical over ~55 miles. My plan had 65 on it followed by a 6 mile run, so I was intending to turn around at the top of a few of the climbs and repeat about half of them. I also rode down to my friends' house for an extra 4 mile pre-ride ride.
My legs were tired overall, but after a more intense week, I was pretty happy with how they held up. I made it up the first climb (~3 miles and ~1800 feet up) pretty easily and well ahead of anybody in the group. I turned around at the top and headed part of the way back down to do it again. I repeated and still felt pretty good and was holding ~280-300 watts most of the way on the hill. I caught up with the group at Pilot Hill where I got some more water. My plan on this ride was to make sure I was properly hydrated to see if that made my run better afterwards. I was going to try to do 1 bottle of water per hour minimum on top of my Perpetuem. In any case, I left Pilot Hill and headed towards the confluence. I took it very easy on the descent down into the canyon and we all regrouped down there. Then we hit the climb up to the Forest Hill bridge, which is another 3-miler with ~1800-2000 feet up. I got to the top of that and turned around and did about half of it again. Still felt pretty good and the hydration and calories seemed to be going well. I cruised down to the bridge and did the little short, steep climb up from that to Auburn. I stopped again in Auburn for more water. I went through town and caught up with the group briefly on the other side of town where people were taking a break at a popular market. I wanted to get my run done before too many of them got back for the pool party, so I just headed on down Auburn-Folsom. This is usually a very fast portion, but a head-wind was slowing me down somewhat. Finally, a couple more small climbs up to El Dorado Hills and my friends house for the post-ride run and pool party!
I did 6 miles and I think my improved hydration consistency paid off because I definitely felt much better on my run than I had been for a few weeks. I covered 6.1 miles in 45 minutes. Then it was a cold beer, lunch, and hitting the pool with my wife and kids for a little post-workout R&R!
Final ride stats for the day: 67 miles in 4 hours with ~5500 feet of climbing (average 183 watts) followed by a 6.1 mile run in 45 minutes.
Overall, my week was 19 hours of training consisting of 11100 yds in the pool, 158 miles biking, and 47 miles running. I am content with that, but I know I will need to continue doing weeks like that and harder as we progress through the summer.
Friday, May 22, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
So far so good.
This week is an "extend" week so I'm adding more volume to the normal week. Basically, just doing a few extra minutes on some key runs and rides and also adding a short ride before my Friday long run.
Monday was a swim/run day and then on Tuesday, I did a hard track workout. A 5 mile warmup, followed by 8x800 on what was supposed to be 2:50. I hit like 2:56 on the first 800 and then did between 2:50 and 2:55 on the rest. I always seem to be a tad slow on the first one as I dial in the pace. And by the time I got to numbers 6, 7, and 8, I was really fatigued. Still hitting 2:52 or so, but really, really fatigued. Then, I did another 2 miles cool down for a 12 mile total run. Then, over lunch, I did a 3100 yd swim. The main set was 2x500 on 8:07, which was tough. I could keep the pace, but only did like 8:00 flat for the 500s. Not sure where my 7:45 came from a few weeks ago, but I haven't seen that speed in a while! Hopefully it will come back and then some!
Wednesday was another swim/run in the AM and I covered 2800 yds in the pool and 6.3 miles on the treadmill. Then, I went to work and at lunch, I did a 22 mile ride in just over an hour - a pretty full day! Today was a ride into work and then a 1:45 ride home with "all-out" intervals and then tomorrow is an hour ride followed by a 16 mile run. When it's all said and done, I think I'll be up to 18-19 hours for the week, which is pretty good for me. And the legs are holding up OK so far, which is a good sign.
Monday was a swim/run day and then on Tuesday, I did a hard track workout. A 5 mile warmup, followed by 8x800 on what was supposed to be 2:50. I hit like 2:56 on the first 800 and then did between 2:50 and 2:55 on the rest. I always seem to be a tad slow on the first one as I dial in the pace. And by the time I got to numbers 6, 7, and 8, I was really fatigued. Still hitting 2:52 or so, but really, really fatigued. Then, I did another 2 miles cool down for a 12 mile total run. Then, over lunch, I did a 3100 yd swim. The main set was 2x500 on 8:07, which was tough. I could keep the pace, but only did like 8:00 flat for the 500s. Not sure where my 7:45 came from a few weeks ago, but I haven't seen that speed in a while! Hopefully it will come back and then some!
Wednesday was another swim/run in the AM and I covered 2800 yds in the pool and 6.3 miles on the treadmill. Then, I went to work and at lunch, I did a 22 mile ride in just over an hour - a pretty full day! Today was a ride into work and then a 1:45 ride home with "all-out" intervals and then tomorrow is an hour ride followed by a 16 mile run. When it's all said and done, I think I'll be up to 18-19 hours for the week, which is pretty good for me. And the legs are holding up OK so far, which is a good sign.
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