Training Week #9
2014
It has been less than a week since I posted my last weekly recap, but I got a bit behind with posting about my training, so I have to play catch up! Week nine was the start to month three (of a six month plan) and I had good focus and effort this week. I came back strong after (1). a sickness in the last part of week seven and (2). slowly (mentally) getting back into the training groove during week eight.
Monday:
AM – 1 hour on the bike trainer with the main set working on low cadence intervals using big gears. This is a good workout on the plan and really gets the quads engaged. Good start to a new training week!
PM – 2200-yard swim – The main set focused on speed work with 10 intervals of 100 at a “moderate plus” pace/15 seconds rest/50 FAST/30 seconds rest. I was VERY consistent with the sets. I had a good steady push to the sets to work on time. The main set totaled 1500 yards and I averaged 1:48 pace. I still have work to do with my speed sets, but I was happy with the consistency I was able to maintain with a solid effort.
Tuesday:
PM – 1 hour 40 minute run on the greenway (again with my #1 supporter, Tony). Overall, this was a decent run. I experienced the typical (for me) “feeling good/feeling not so good” for a long run. I started a bit slow, but got into the groove and felt decent. I started feeling the “long run fatigue” sooner that I had on my last long run. I had to push harder to finish strong. We extended the time a bit to round out at 11 miles even.
| Split | Time | Distance | Avg Pace |
| Summary | 1:41:53.8 | 11.00 | 9:16 |
| 1 | 9:47.6 | 1.00 | 9:48 |
| 2 | 9:17.5 | 1.00 | 9:17 |
| 3 | 9:25.7 | 1.00 | 9:26 |
| 4 | 9:08.9 | 1.00 | 9:09 |
| 5 | 9:06.6 | 1.00 | 9:06 |
| 6 | 9:31.7 | 1.00 | 9:32 |
| 7 | 9:05.1 | 1.00 | 9:05 |
| 8 | 9:10.4 | 1.00 | 9:10 |
| 9 | 9:04.9 | 1.00 | 9:05 |
| 10 | 9:02.3 | 1.00 | 9:02 |
| 11 | 9:11.1 | 1.00 | 9:11 |
| 12 | :02.0 | 0.00 | 6:49 |
Wednesday:
AM – Though, not ideal, Wednesday morning was a tempo run (or what I would call speed work) on the treadmill. After a solid warm-up, the main set was 3x5minutes at a targeted pace of 1 minute per mile faster than race pace. I was able to hit the target paces even though my legs were very sore from the long run the evening before. I had not originally planned to do this run the morning following the long run, but I decided to tackle the tempo run instead of the 1.5 hour bike originally planned. I just switched up the two workouts. Overall, this run probably loosened up my legs a bit. The averages for the three intervals were 8:00, 7:59 and 7:54.
PM – 2000-yard swim where the main set included some speed work. I started with 3- 200 sets at moderate pace, then moved to 5×100 building into a sprint for last 25 yards followed by 8×25 with evens at easy effort and odds at fast effort. This was a decent session, but as I mentioned for Monday’s swim workout, I need to continue pushing my speed efforts for improvement.
Thursday:
AM – 1 hour 25 minutes on the bike trainer. This required a SUPER early start to get the full workout in. This was the earliest alarm for morning training so far. 4:50am…ouch! This is a good session that includes lots of cadence and gear changes throughout with very minimal rest. For a longer session, it goes by pretty quickly…it also helps that I watched an episode of Scandal to help the time pass!
Friday:
REST DAY!!!
Saturday:
Outdoor ride with Tony and another tri friend. I had not biked with her yet this season, so it was great that she could join us for part of the ride! We had 3 hours 45 minutes planned and we got in 64 miles. I felt pretty good overall on the ride and after the ride, my legs felt decent.
Sunday:
Session #1 – 2900-yard swim with the main set including 3×750 sets with one minute rest between intervals. I was surprised at how different my times were for the three sets. Obviously, I was very happy at my time for the first interval. Going forward, I need to work to keep my pace quicker for the third set to keep my average pace down.
| Interval | Time | Distance | Avg Pace |
| Summary | 47:25.9 | 2,250 | 1:57 |
| 1 | 14:31.7 | 750 | 1:56 |
| 2 | 14:43.9 | 750 | 1:57 |
| 3 | 14:55.1 | 750 | 1:59 |
Session #2 – Hill Repeats! This was the first time I have been able to perform these outside, so we picked a good hill at the top of our street that I always hate to run. The training plan called for a hill of moderate steepness (4-8% grade) and sufficient length so that the grade can be experienced for at least two minutes in duration. I am not sure of the grade of the hill, but it is a good steady climb. I determined the point in the hill that would give me about a 2 minute climb (the distance was .22 miles). I ran it eight times and ran back down at an easy jog pace, while trying to lengthen my stride. This was definitely a worthy challenge! My average pace for the hill climbs ranged from 9:24 to 9:58.
Totals:
Time: 12 hours 28 minutes
Swim: 7,125 yards
Bike: 92.7 miles
Run: 18.5 miles
Stretching/foam rolling: Some, but not enough!
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