Week 23: July 15-21, 2013

Someone on my IMWI facebook group page posted that there are 50 days until race day.  OMG.  Hard to believe that there are only 4 more weeks of real intense work until taper starts.  I almost hate to say it out loud for fear of jinxing myself, but I am surprised at how well my body seems to be adapting to and recovering from the work load.  Just when I think I've completely beaten my legs down (i.e. bike hill repeats shown below, from Thursday), my body shocks me the next morning by giving me surprisingly fresh-feeling legs on a run.  Not that I'm running particularly fast (or riding fast at all), but race day is not going to be about going fast but about enduring for the long haul.  Physically, I think I'm almost there...and mentally, I'm still working on it.  Although I'm actually enjoying 17+ hours of swimming, biking, and running each week, I'm still intimidated about putting it all together on race day.

County Road 10 hill bike repeats with Mark, from Thursday:

2300+ ft of climbing over 30 miles

Sunday brought my first ever 100 miler...finally!  I met up with a new triathlon friend, who is training for IMLou, for repeats up and down a 12 mile stretch of road that is non-stop rolling hills with one decently long, small-ring climb.  Great practice for the courses in both Madison and Louisville.  The last time I rode this route (only 82 miles that time), my legs were completely shot afterwards.  As in "how on earth am I going to run after a ride like this on race day" shot.  So needless to say, I was anxious going into Sunday's ride.  I felt great starting in, but kept waiting for the fatigue to set in...surprisingly, it never did.  The 30-minute brick run afterwards felt great, too, like I could've kept on going.  I think the driving-all-over-Ohio-to-find-the-biggest-hills-to-ride training strategy is starting to pay off.  The total climbing on this route was 5818 ft, which is just over the elevation gain of Wisconsin.  This one was a huge confidence booster.

For future reference: on Sunday's ride, I drank 136 oz of Osmo (4x24oz bottles & 2x20oz bottles) plus 1 Clif bar, 1 Bonk Breaker bar, 1 Larabar Uber.  During race, will probably plan on drinking at least another 20-40 oz of water, depending on how hot it is and eating several bananas as well.  Temperature today started out in the mid-70s and ended in the mid-80s.  Also took slushy 16oz hand-held bottle of Perform on the run and drank it all.  No headache later in the day.  Legs feel tired but not sore the day after.

Monday: off
Tuesday: 2250 yd swim:
200 warm up
3x100s on 1:20, desc
50 ez
4x100s on 1:15 w/ paddles
100 ez
4x100s on 1:30, desc
100 ez
4x100s IM on 1:45
100 ez
200 cool down
8.2 mi run immediately following swim (1:15)
9 miles worth of Emerald Parkway hill repeats w/ Ann later in the day (with a 103 degree heat index...ugg!)
Wednesday: 30 min z2 trainer ride, followed by a 3200 yd swim with Beth:
500 sw, 4x50 dr/sw
3x100s on 1:20
50 ez
5x200s free on 2:50
5x100s free w/ paddles on 1:30, hold 1:15-1:20
500 kick alt dolphin/free
200 cool down
Thursday: 3600 yd swim:
500 warm up, 5x50s dr/sw
3x100s on 1:20, desc
50 ez
3x (150 on 2:15/50 kick on 1:00/4x25s stroke sprint on :30). 150s as 50 stroke/100 free
50 ez
Repeat same set above w/ different stroke
4x (75 IM order on 1:20/50 kick on 1:00/25 sprint on :30)
50 ez
30 miles of bike hill repeats on CR-10 in Zanesfield...almost 2400 ft of climbing.
Friday: 45 min z1 trainer ride, followed by a 13.1 mi long run (2:00).  Was already 85* and 95% humidity at 6am.  Drank Perform the whole time and it agreed with my stomach.  Other than the heat, my body felt pretty good.
Saturday: 7 mi z2 run (1:03)
Sunday: 100.02mi ride from New Albany to Sportsmans Club Rd (repeats) and back with David (6:30)...5818 ft of climbing, followed by a 30 min transition run (3.4 mi)

Weekly stats:
Swim: 9050 yards (5.48mi)
Bike: 1:15 trainer hours + 139.02 road miles
Run: 31.7 mi
Strength: did some sets of push-ups, a little bit of core, and myrtl but that's about it.
Hours: 18:35

Training cycle totals:
Swim: 140,150 yards (84.93 mi)
Bike: 64:13 trainer hours (est. 1088 mi) + 1057.77 road miles
Run: 542.73 mi
Hours: 272:55