Ironman Week 19

5/7-5/13

Coming off of Wildflower I sort of expected this to be a recovery week. And while the first few days were fairly easy by Friday things had ramped up quite a bit! Highlights from the week include a new cycling distance PR, a return to trail running (oh, how I've missed it!), and a kick ass open water swim. All in all another great week of training!

Monday
pm: swim / 1,300 yds / 0:30

• warm-up: 200
• main:
• 300 as 25 FTD/25 swim
• 300 as 25 CU/25 swim
• 300 focusing on distance per stroke
• cool-down: 200

Most of the day was spent driving back from Wildflower, so I opted to wait until the evening to fit in my swim. I almost skipped it, but was glad I didn't. It was short and easy, and the water actually felt great on my tired and sore legs.

Tuesday
pm: run / 3.1 mi / 0:28 / avg 9:02
About half of the MTC group had competed at Wildflower so we were given a nice and easy track workout - 3 miles with a short pick-up each lap. Although my legs weren't too happy to be running yet, it was fun to socialize and share stories from the weekend.

Wednesday
am: bike / 18 mi / 1:00 / avg 18 mph
I felt surprisingly good on this ride and was able to push the pace. No idea where it came from, but I'll take it!

Thursday
pm: swim / 2,450 yds / 1:00

• warm-up:
• 200
• 4x(25 kick/25 backstroke/25 drill/25 swim)
• main:
• 100 easy
• 100 easy, 50 fast
• 100 easy, 100 fast
• 100 easy, 100 fast, 50 pull
• 100 easy, 100 fast, 100 pull
• 100 easy, 100 fast, 100 pull, 50 fast
• 100 easy, 100 fast, 100 pull, 100 fast
• cool-down: 100

Another MTC swim workout, and this one was quite the doozy. The main set was sort of like a ladder, and it was not only hard to do, but hard to follow, too! It took a good 5 minutes of explaining from our coach before we comprehended it enough to give it a go. I felt really slow and lethargic, but chalked it up to still recovering from Wildflower and tried to cut myself some slack.

Friday
pm: bike / 70 mi / 4:07 / avg 17 mph
So much for a rest week! I had a 4 hour ride on deck and I tried to find someone to join me for at least part of it, but no dice. I told myself it would be good mental practice to cover the distance solo, and I think it was. It was supposed to be a hilly ride, so I opted to start from my house and head up the bike trail to Beal's Point, which has some nice little hills leading up to it. From there I headed up Auburn-Folsom. My plan was to stay on that road, but then I spotted signs for the bike course for the triathlon going on the next day and decided to follow them to change things up. I figured it was a fairly safe idea with minimal chance of getting lost since I could just follow the signs back. The course took me on some quaint country roads with rolling hills for about 8 miles. I did miss a turn on the way back and almost got turned around, but I managed to find my way back.

Beal's Point, Folsom Lake

The first 10 miles or so of the ride really sucked. My legs just didn't seem to have much power, and hitting my usual speeds took more effort. It did improve as I went, and the second half ended up being much more pleasant than the first. I fueled well (2 servings of Gu Roctane + water and 3 Honey Stinger waffles) and hydrated plenty since it was quite warm. My legs were certainly tired, but what really killed me was my saddle. Again. Just like at Wildflower, by mile 30 it was extremely uncomfortable. After talking to my coach I'm going to try some adjustments with the angle of the saddle, and I have an appointment for a legit bike fit at the end of the month. Gotta get this under control! I stopped a few times to stretch and use the bathroom, both of which were necessary on a ride this long. I ended up with a negative split so I headed out the opposite direction to add on a bit more, and figured I do an extra few minutes to come to a round 70 miles for the day.

It felt great to finally have a solid long ride under my belt, and I'm pretty happy with how it went (although I don't know about another 42 miles!). Next up is my first century this Sunday - more on that later!

Saturday
rest
Since Sunday was going to be busy with work and working out I took the opportunity to take my mom out for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day. I can't say just how lucky I am to have such an amazing and supportive mom. She's been my biggest fan since I started this crazy lifestyle and has always supported and encouraged me to pursue my dreams. She's truly one of a kind, and I'm proud to call her mom : )

 ♥

Sunday
am: run / 8.5 mi / 1:43 / avg 12:07

My long run this week was supposed to be a trail run, and fortunately my coworker, Courtney, agreed to come along. It's been a while since I've hit the trails and while I was excited, I was also a bit anxious to see how my tired legs would do on some hills. We headed up to Auburn and started from the Overlook. I had 2 hours on deck but after a later-than-planned start we decided to cut it short and run down to No Hands Bridge and back, about 8ish miles. The first half was mostly downhill as we made our way down to the bridge over the American River at the bottom of the canyon. It was a beautiful morning, and I was having a great time enjoying the trails and taking in the wonderful views. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere, butterflies were in the air, and everything was lush and green. We crossed a few little creeks and one lovely little waterfall : )

 talk about a view!

 American River

waterfall!

We made pretty good time down to No Hands and continued on a couple minutes before turning around to head back. I was feeling pretty good, but knew that the way back would be much more challenging as we had to make our way up and out of the canyon. Surprisingly it wasn't my legs that were holding me back as much as it was my lungs. I don't know if it was the elevation (really not that high, but I do live at sea level), or more likely, allergies. Courtney was having a rough time on the way back since she's been dealing with a cough lately, so we made sure to take it nice and easy and hiked all the hills. There's one long little winding hill that was especially painful but we trudged our way to the top and continued on. Poor Courtney took a little tumble just before we were done, so she's officially earned her trail running stripes!

 No Hands Bridge

the worst of the hills

pm: swim / 1,600 yds* / 0:30
I couldn't recruit anyone to join me, so I headed to Lake Natoma after work for another half hour of open water swimming. I was actually kind of excited to do it since the buoys for crew are still there and act like lane lines : ) For some reason I grabbed a sleeveless wetsuit when I left work and was afraid I'd be too cold, but it actually worked out fine once I got moving. I did get some funny looks from people as I walked up wearing a wetsuit and got in, and I'm sure most thought I was crazy : )

I felt great for the majority of the swim. I found a rhythm much quicker than last time and just cruised along. There were a couple times where the current was noticeably strong and I almost freaked out, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, surprising more than anything. I made it around the rectangle in 25 minutes so I added on a little out-and-back to get to 30. The best part of the swim was when I got out and a couple told me they'd been watching me and were impressed by how fast I was! I explained that the wetsuit and current helped, but they said I still looked great : )

Totals

swim: 5,350 yards

bike: 88 miles

run: 11.6 miles

other: 0 hours

total time: 9.3 hours