Wow what a week! Not only did I workout more than I ever had in one week, I also put about 10 hours of overtime at work. It was definitely a struggle to get everything done, but all in all, I would say it was a successful week. I did skip yoga and would have liked to have done at least one more short core workout but I did get my key workouts in. I also tried to get as much sleep as possible with all things considered.
Before you read my workouts this week and wonder why I put in so much work with 5 months to go until Ironman, let me preface by saying this was my marathon training peak week so my run volume was really high. Combining my high run volume with three bikes and 3 swims added up to a lot of hours of working out! All three swim workouts were technique focused and fairly short, which helped.
Workout Summary:
Monday: Slept in (much-needed) and then did 1,600 meter swim after work. Found a swim workout online and did 2 x 50 easy, 1 x 100 easy warm-up then 2 x 50 (alternating each lap using just right arm and just left arm), 4 x 25 kick (on back). Main set was a Pyramid – 50, 100, 150, 200, 200, 150, 100, 50 followed by 1 x 100 and 2 x 50 cool-down.
Tuesday: 10 mile mid-week long run AM. Woke up at 4:55 a.m. for this one so that Asia could get to work by 8 a.m. I had 2 Gus on the run, one at mile 3 and one at mile 7 since I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before. We took it VERY easy and experienced an absolutely stunning sunrise. It felt good to get this run out of the way so early!; Easy spin on trainer & P90X Ab Ripper PM (while watching the Bachelor – multi tasking is fun).
Wednesday: Sufferfest “The Hunted” on Trainer. This workout has a 20 minute continuous effort, unlike most of the other Sufferfest videos which are shorter intervals. Mike used this as a change to test his average power over the 20 minutes, but unfortunately I couldn’t do the same because I clipped the wire on my power meter as I was moving it from my old bike to my new one. I had to order a new set of wires! I felt pretty good during this workout although I woke up pretty tired. PM – 60 Minute Tri Club Technique Swim Class (at local JCC) – Approximately 1,000 meters. This class is a great resource provided by the TriClub and I haven’t been taking advantage of it lately. I was glad I went, although I didn’t really learn anything I didn’t already know, it’s great to listen to someone explain proper swim form and go through all the drills. We swam on a 33 meter length pool and did the following drills after the warm-up, starting with work on balance and rotation and progressing through: kick on side, kick on back, kick on stomach and rotate to each side without using arms, repeat last drill but with 1 stroke every 6 seconds, repeat again with 1 stroke every 3 seconds, closed fist drill, zipper drill, catch-up drill, alternate breathing sides, freestyle focusing on longer strokes, etc.
Thursday: 10 x 800 Yasso 800s (8.5 miles) plus 1,000 meter swim. Swim was 300 meter warm-up and then 12 x 50 alternating 4 different drills – closed fist, zipper, catch-up and focus on extension. 100 cool down. Yoga was planned for the evening but I skipped it since I had to work late and we were meeting friends for dinner.
Friday: Complete day of rest.
Saturday: 21.3 mile run. I took it easy and focused on race day nutrition and felt pretty good finishing this run. You can read more about this run here.
Sunday: 49 mile bike ride down the coast and up to the Oceanside bike path (was supposed to be 45 mile ride plus 3 mile run but we didn’t want to run on tired legs from our long run and then accidentally overshot the bike mileage). I had oatmeal before this ride which is pretty substantial and then had 2 Stinger Waffles (160 calories each) and a Gu. Despite this, I was REALLY hungry by the end of the ride! I was also exhausted by the end and very thankful to get off the bike. Last week I came to realize that I need to buy a new saddle for my new bike that fits my lady parts better and this ride reiterated this fact. I was extremely uncomfortable for a significant portion of the ride. I tried riding in aero for the majority of the bike path portion (it’s about 7.5 miles each way) but on the way back it was too painful to ride like that.
Weekly Volume (Time on bike includes door to door time, including stop lights and bathroom breaks):- Miles Run: 39.8
- Hours Biked: 5.75
- Yards Swam: 3,600
- Total Hours: 14.5
That is a really solid peak week! If you can get through that feeling good, you’re set for a great marathon!
DANG! You are officially a bad ass. Nice job on a really tough week.