09/04/07: A big deposit in my IM training account

Last week was by far my biggest training week yet....

Plan was for 13.75 hours:

Actual was 13.58 hours

Swim: Plan 4.5 hours
Actual: 4 hours, 8600 yds

Thursdays practice got cut short by lightening about an hour into it; otherwise, it was a good swimming week. Given the warm weather we've been having, getting in the pool has actually been quite refreshing...especially in my pool at home where no laps were involved......

Run: Plan 3.75 hours
Actual: 4.08 hours, 26.8 miles

Since I went to the group swim Sat morning, I did Saturday's long run late Sat evening, starting at 7:45, a bit later than I would have liked.

The run was pretty uneventful, other than finishing a little after 10 PM. The downside was that I had to get up the next morning at 5:45 to get in my long ride and short run afterwards. More about the ride in a minute...

As far as the 30 minute run after the long ride....PURE HELL....It felt like the last few miles of a marathon, which on the upside is probably exactly what I need to experience during training, since the last few miles of the IM will feel that bad or worse I'm sure.....

Overall a good running week, going slightly over my planned hours by adding the 30 minute run to the end of my long ride.

Fortunately this week I'll be doing my long run on Wednesday so that I can fit in the Total Immersion Swim Clinic at UNF this weekend, which should leave my legs much fresher for Sunday's long ride.

Bike: Plan 5.5 hours
Actual: 5.5 hours, 99.58 miles

In addition to my planned workouts, I spent 5-10 minutes on the rollers a few times during the week to work on balance.

The weeks main bike workout was Sunday's long ride. After doing the long run late on Saturday, it was a good thing I was meeting someone to ride with, or I probably would have started MUCH later than 7 am and possibly gotten rained out.

I did two 40 miles loops. The first one felt great, especially since I had some company. Most of the second loop felt ok, alhough the last 1/2 hour or so got a bit tough. Running 15 miles the night before obviously took at lot out of me.

This week has a 5 hour ride scheduled, although I'm hoping the last part of it won't be quite as bad, since I won't be biking on such tired legs....Just have to wait and see....

So far, the 4 1/2 hour, 79.58 mile ride is my farthest to date.....more to follow this week with a plan of 14.75 hours.

Live with purpose....Enjoy the adventure....