posted by Lee@Tri*Inspired*Life on Triathlon

Since last week was recovery, this was the beginning of a another 3-week build. I felt “ready to go” with a good solid month back to a training plan behind me.

Monday PM:
A swim was on the plan for Monday after work. A bit before lunch, I found out that I needed to attend at 6:00pm meeting at work. Boo! If I had known that I had a late meeting, I would have done a morning training session…not swim, but would have planned otherwise. Oh well. That’s life! I got out of the meeting around 7:15, so that put me home a bit before 8:00, which is also the time the pool closes. So, it was dinner, a bit of down time, and then bed for an early training session on Tuesday. Luckily, I had three swims on the schedule for the week, so I would still have two good swim sessions to work through.

Tuesday AM:
I had a (non-work) meeting Tuesday evening, which had been on my calendar for a while, so I knew my morning session would be my training time for the day. I had 50-minute main set tempo run on the treadmill (plus 5 min w/u and 5 min c/d). The planned pace was the same as the 30-minute run pace from the week prior. I would hold that pace as long as my heart rate did not exceed the desired zone. Well, I got it done and was able to maintain the pace for the full 50 minutes. YAY!

Wednesday:
AM: 55 minutes on the bike trainer with the focus on shorter, high intensity intervals. This session is also a hold over from last years’ Ironman plan and since it was always a tough challenge, I decided to bring it into this plan.

W/U: 10-minute easy spin at 90+ RPM; 3x30sec accelerations to full sprint for last 15seconds (RPMs >110) w/ 1min recovery between intervals
Main Set: 4×2-minute at max effort attainable with goal of maintaining effort for the full 2 minutes and maintaining equal effort through all 4 intervals.
Rest interval: 3 minutes
Extra 5 minutes of recovery by spinning at 100-105rpms
4×1-minute at max effort attainable with goal of maintaining effort for the full 1 minute and maintaining equal effort through all 4 intervals.
Rest interval: 1 minutes
3x30sec ALL OUT effort with 1-minute recovery between intervals.
C/D: Remaining time to meet 55 minutes total

Yep, this was definitely as hard as I remember it!  Those intervals are quad burners for sure!

PM: 1800-yard swim with focus on speed
W/U (500):500 easy mix with swim/drills/pull/kick incorporated throughout
Main Set (1100):
2×200 moderate pace, :30sec rest between intervals
5×100 build each 100 to FAST for last 25 yards, :30 sec rest between intervals
8×25 evens EASY, odds FAST :20sec rest between intervals
C/D: 200 easy

Not too much to report on the swim.  Just trying to get in some solid speed sets to work my times back to what I was able to get last season.  Still workin’…….

Thursday:
AM: 30 minutes of yoga and 15 minutes of abs
PM: Another tempo run. Same deal as Tuesday’s run, but main set was 10 minutes longer to total one hour. Once again, I was able to hold my desired pace for the full hour while maintaining my heart rate in the desired zone. Double YAY!! My legs were toasty toast, but I had a smile on my face!

Friday:

One fun thing to report is that during lunch on Friday, I did a quick trip to TJ Maxx.  I was happy that I stumbled upon a table that had numerous pairs of my Mizuno Wave Inspire!  I am currently wearing the generation 10 and the 11s have been released.  Of course, TJ Maxx had the 10s so I could not pass up the $49 price tag since they had them in my size.  It was the electric blue color (which I have with only low miles and the gray ones which are close to retiring), but  I didn’t mind another pair in the same color.  This girl loves a good deal!

Saturday:
The weekend presented warmer weather (smile) and I wanted to take advantage. Sunday was forecasted to be around 67 degrees and Saturday around 58, but Saturday’s schedule was much more flexible as far as getting in a ride outside! So, it happened. My riding buddy Susanne and I rolled out around 12:15 for a 35-mile ride. It was sunny and 48 so it felt a little chilly and windy at times, but it was SO NICE to be outside riding! It was good for my soul!

After the ride, I had a 2-mile brick. So, it was on with my running shoes and hopes for a good, quick run! As the case was from last week, my legs needed an extra few minutes to get engaged for running. I purposely did a some short loops so I could maintain a flat course. There are lots of rollers running from my house, but there is one small section that is pretty much flat, so I repeated it to get the two miles. I just wanted to feel how my legs would respond to my first (outside) brick this season on flat terrain. My miles were 9:02 and 8:38.

Sunday:
We had a full afternoon planned and I HAD to get in a swim, so I went to the pool early to get in knocked it. One City of Raleigh pool opens for 2.5 hours early on Sunday. It then closes and re-opens (along the the others) at 1:00. I arrived by 8:00am. With the time change just happening, I was moving slowly.

1900-yard swim with focus on speed:
W/U: 500 easy mix with swim/drills/pull/kick incorporated throughout
Main set (1200):  8x(100 moderate/:15sec rest/50 FAST), :30sec rest between intervals
C/D: 200 easy

I was hoping that after I got warmed up, that I would feel more awake and ready to put in a solid effort. I tried, but I felt like I was having to work really hard each interval and my interval times were not reflective of the effort I put in. I just hung in there and did the best I could.

Total training time: 7 hours 40 minutes
Swim: 3,700 yards
Bike: 45.67 miles
Run: 17 miles
Other: 1 hour

I also incorporate twice daily PT exercises that are meant to strengthen/stretch my glutes, hamstrings and re-align my hips. This probably averages about 25 minutes a day and I have not included that in the above totals. However, this is probably one of the smartest things I am doing daily!

Tags: Training