Week in Review 3/4 - 3/10

Back at it!

Sunday: Recovery day; my last day of "taking it easy."  Time to get to work!

Monday:

• Run- 6 x 800m Track workout.  We (Pat and I) thought we would be nice to ourselves and set our pace at 3:12 (which would be a 6:24 mile pace) with a 1:30 rest interval.  Well, turns out all the break we took last week was really beneficial, as we were able to do all of them around 3:08!  What was even more remarkable for Pat is that we were able to do so with such a short rest.  Usually we "fudge" a little on our recovery time and go a little longer so we can hit our pace.  But not this time!  We stuck to it and did better than we were aiming for!
• Swim- I cannot recall the workout we did, but I do remember that the total yards was 1800.  It felt awful until about halfway through.  Then coach had me do 100 meters where I do 50m kick, then the next 50m "holding the leg" which means to swim with arms too, but keeping your legs kicking as much as when they were only kicking.  It felt great.  I'll have to remember to use my kick more often!

Tuesday:

• Bike- "Spinervals" video (Troy Jacobsen) while on the trainer.  It was a video that my brother, who lives in Tucson, gave me with the trainer.  The video has a few different virtual rides on it, all in Tucson.  Makes me wish I was really there and could be with my brother!  Today I did the climb to Summervale.  I don't think it's over 20 miles, but it takes 1 hour, 22 minutes of very difficult climbing.  I found myself REALLY appreciating his coaching and encouragement!  He repeats at the end when you're going 100% for what feels like forever: "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!!  Let's go, let's go, let's go!!! C'mon?  Ok, here I come.  Let's go?  I'm going, don't leave without me!  Ha ha ha...I enjoy Coach Troy.
• I was planning on doing something running and drills oriented at the training for TNT tonight, but the only person who usually shows up let me know she was sick.  So since no one was planning on going, neither did I.

Wednesday:

• Run- A semi-easy 5 miles.  It takes me a couple of miles to feel warmed up, but right when I was rocking a 7:20 mile pace, I turned the corner and experienced the gust of wind that has been blowing in the valley this week.  Oh well.  I still gave the same intensity for the rest of the run, just with a slower average time.
• Swim- 10 x 75m; 25m easy, building to a fast last 25m. 10 x 25m fast; 10 x 50m, last 25m faster than the first 25m; 3 x 100m same as the 75m repeats.  With warm-up and cool-down, my total tonight was a personal record of 2250m in an hour!  That also includes my rest time in between each interval.  It gives me hope that I can do 3600m (the distance for the swim in the Ironman) around an hour and a half.  Someday I'll try to just swim the entire hour straight and see how far I get.  I just keep putting it off because I lose count of laps so easily.  Whoops...

Thursday:
Yoga, P90X style.  An hour and a half of almost torture, and me looking at the clock ticking sooooo slowly.

Friday:
Run- 12ish miles ("ish"...which means just short of 12, but gave a valiant effort) @ 8:15 average mile pace.  Our last two miles were both under 8 minutes! 
What I learned from this run:
Lesson #1: Make sure I take care of bodily functions BEFORE leaving.  Then the stop at the gas station to use the facilities will be unnecessary.  TMI?  Probably, but if you've been there, you know exactly how monumental this is.  If you haven't, then maybe you can learn from my mistakes and not make them yourself.
Lesson #2: Point out dark, foreboding curbs to Patrick.  Otherwise we could have a bleeding person, and broken phone. Or vice-versa. Ha!  I am happy to report that he is fine and no injuries to person or phone were sustained! (Seems like I've said this before...yes, in last week's review with my bike/trainer "fall" of my own.)  Good Lord, help us get safely to the race in November!

Saturday:
Ride, total miles of 50.66!  My first ride that far, but I also know it's not even half what I'll be doing at the Ironman.  Still, it was quite monumental for me!  Getting passed all those cognitive road blocks, one at a time...it helps!  The first 20 miles were with TNT, then a couple teammates wanted to do about 10 more, and then I rode up to Sheri's (by Millerton Road) and back on my own.  "Big Baby Hill" got me at the end, but I know I was tired and by myself.  I will conquer that hill someday! 
Here is my proof: