I’m not really training for anything, and it feels kinda weird. I still have a 10k in early May in mind, but it’s really going to depend on how warm it is. I guess I am “training” for the Charleston Sprint series?
I started swimming with the YMCA Masters group last week (I skipped the recap) but only swam once because of weather, so this week was the first week of getting up at 430 am both Tuesday and Thursday. Ya’ll, I am a morning person, but 430 is EARLY. 430 is still night time.
So what I’m planning through the summer is to keep up my tempo/speed/long runs probably 3 weeks out of the month and then do one easy week. I’m going to swim twice a week and ride twice a week. My focus will be mostly on running and swimming so my bike is going to take a backseat this season. But really, other than Kiawah my races are only 12 miles. This week was tough because I’m trying to add a good amount of swimming (2500m or more) twice a week in addition to riding AND my speedier run workouts.
Monday – tempo. 6 miles. 1.25 easy/3 @ 7:23/1.75 easy. This went fairly well, though I warmed up a bit longer than a mile so it threw my pace off for the faster part. I took one rest break and ran a 7:21, 7:17, 7:18.
Tuesday swim/strength 2500m swim/15 min leg workout. There was a big focus on kicking for the swim workout but I figured since I was wearing fins I didn’t need to worry too much. Then I got home and decided a 15 min leg workout was necessary, which I paid for dearly later.
Wednesday speed (ish). 6 miles with 4 x1200 and 400 recovery. I woke up and my quads were a little sore, which is never a good sign. I felt ok during my warm up, but once I started my 1200’s I knew I was going to be throwing my pace goals out the window. I was shooting to run them in a 6:42. I ran the first in 6:44 (not bad) and the second in 6:41, but thats only because I literally stopped and rested halfway through. The third was a 6:58 and the fourth a 7:10 – slower than my last 5k average page. My legs were just totally trashed.
Thursday swim. 2500 meters. 4:30 comes really really early. My legs were still tired. I felt them all day.
Friday long. 9 miles progressive. 8:00 average. I woke up Friday and my legs were still tired, but at least no longer sore. My goal for the day was supposed to be 8 @ 7:50 but after Wednesday I decided to start easy and see how it went. The last thing I want to do is end up injured. So I started at a 8:35, ran the second and 8:20, and decided to try an easier progression. 8:35, 8:20, 8:12, 8:00, 8:01, 8:00, 7:49, 7:35, 7:23.
Saturday ride/run 25 mile ride @ 17.6 MPH/1.7 miles @ 8:56/mile I joined Tammie on her long ride, which was my first of the season. I’ve hardly been on the bike at all this year, honestly, and it was nice to get a good easy long ride in.
I took zero pictures this week, so if you’re still reading I’m impressed.
Last’s weeks partly conscious/partly forced decision to take an easier week turned out to be an intelligent one. It helped me physically recover and mentally take a “break”. I’m told its mostly a mental game at this point.
Also, how are we at week 25 already?!
Monday run/swim.60 minute swim/2500 yards. Another day it looks like possible rain in the afternoon, another day I swim at home and of course it doesn’t rain. And that easy feeling swim I had last week? I lost it. It feels mostly awkward and slow again. I have a theory, but I’m waiting to test it out before I come out with it. On the plus side, I did a 2500 yard straight swim and felt fine afterwards, except bored. 58 minute ride/16.5 miles/17.1 MPH/82 degrees. Warm. Easy. Not much to say here.
Tuesdayrun/swim. Monday night I went to bed early – even a bit earlier than usual, around 9:15. I slept OVER 9.5 hours. NINE AND A HALF HOURS. But, I woke up feeling like a new person, and even though the run was still warm, for the first time in awhile I felt like I could run a bit faster. 60 minute run/6.26 miles/9:35 average/73 degrees. The swim ended up an unplanned last minute change, as the weather was calling for rain for the next several days straight, so Bryan picked the kids up and I jumped in the pool. It still felt odd and slow. I’ve tried to make my sets longer and my goal was to do two sets of 1300, but I Was so frustrated with how slow the first 1300 was I broke the rest into smaller chunks. 60 minute swim/2500 yards.
Wednesday run. A day for go running snacks. We beat the rain but it was STICKY AND HUMID. 60 minute run/5.53 miles/10:40 average/72 degrees
Thursdayswim. Again I had planned to do a warm up, a set of drills, and then 1600 straight, but I got stopped 900 in by a landscaper who wanted to use the pool bathroom. 60 minute swim/2500 yards
Friday long run. I had the bright idea to move my long run to Friday so I could have Sunday off, knowing that week my long ride and run during week 26 would be during the week because of work training over the weekend. So I figured I’d avoid what would end up being 17-18 hours of training without a rest day by moving it. What I forgot to consider was the time I put in the week BEFORE. I had already mentally moved it so I just did it, but did a run/walk to play it safe. My pace actually ended up being the same as the week previously – this week felt a bit cooler but last week I was more well rested so it seemed comparable. 2.5 hour run/14.5 miles/10:20 average/70 degrees
Saturdaylong ride. This was THE long ride – the BIG one. I held back at the beginning knowing how many hours I had already put in the previous 7 days without a rest day, and actually found I had a good amount of energy at the end – enough even to pull the group in the last few miles. 5.5 hour ride/101.5 miles (!)/18.3MPH/72 degrees.
Sunday – rest day
Total Time: 14 hours 12 minutes (19.5 hours from Saturday-Saturday without a rest day)
Miles Traveled: 148.78
Training Thoughts: I should have kept better track of this day by day and week by week, as I am finding I often forget by the time I sit down to type this. Honestly I had hoped to write a few posts on my thought process as this has gone down, but I have either just been too tired or too busy. I’ve had so many running thoughts about all of this and the effect its had on me and my kids and everyone around me. I felt better this week overall and I think the challenge of the number of hours and the 100 mile ride fueled me, but by Sunday I was pooped again. I’m definitely having to dig deep to find motivation some days. It really has been a roller coaster ride even hour by hour some days. I haven’t lost it on anyone and I haven’t yet turned into a total dick, but I’m definitely less patient and more irritable.
Monday – swim/run 60 minute run (some stroller some solo) with 2x 4.5 min Z4/6.1 miles/72 degrees. I did the intervals solo plus a little extra, then took the twins for a short “running snack” to finish up the workout. 45 minute swim/2000 meters After we hung out a home a bit I started to get them ready to go to daycare so I could finish my workout and head into work. I went to open the car to put my stuff in and realized it was locked. I went back in looking for my keys. No luck. I went back outside and peered in the door to realize that they had been locked in the car. Bryan, who had also happened to forget his phone at home that day, had to leave work (after someone hunted him down at the school, because surprise his office calls were forwarded to his cell phone!) and come let me in the car, so my swim got cut short for the day.
Tuesday – ride. 60 minute ride with 3×5 min Z4/18.4 miles/18.4MPH/70 degrees. This one went off without a hitch luckily, and I averaged about 20.3 for the interval parts of the ride.
Wednesday swim/run. 60 minute swim/ 2500 yards. Not a SNAFU for me personally this week, but many others got their swims cut due to chemical issues at the YMCA pool. Considering they wake up before 5 am for this swim, I could definitely sympathize. 60 minute run with 1x 7.5 min Z4/ 6.39 miles/9:39 average/82 degrees. Its sad when its been so warm out that 82 “feels like” 88 feels relatively cool. We missed the group pic but I took a couple at recovery drinks (and food, of course) to make up for it.
Friday long run. 75 minute run/7.33 miles/10:14 average/73 degrees. I really tried to keep this run at high Zone 1/low Zone 2. I managed to do pretty well until the last mile and a half or so and then I got annoyed and started speeding up a little. I’m going to need to practice more self control for race day here.
Saturday long ride. 3.5 hour ride/61.3 miles/17.4MPH/73 degrees at start. So the group decided to start this ride at 6am in hopes that we could beat some of the heat at the end. Great in theory, not so great in practice, at least not this time. Someone fell before we even left. 5 minutes in and someone had a flat. 20 minutes later someones bike was making a whistling noise. 20 minutes (ish) after that, someone had TWO flats (pothole). All together we ended up with 5 flat tires (among 3 people), 3 falls (myself included), a dropped chain, a funny whistling noise, a bee sting, a overheated rider and a partridge in a pear tree.
My seat issue still isn’t solved, and I was hungry an hour into the ride so going liquid only isn’t going to work so well.
Sunday. rest day. Took the twins to Hilton Head to meet up with an old college roommate.
Total Training Time: 10 hours 45 minutes
Training Thoughts: Oy Vey. (I said this Saturday and someone said they hadn’t heard it said in a very long time haha)
Monday: run/swim. My run was split into two – one 30 min run solo and one 30 min run with the twins, as I just didn’t feel up to pushing the stroller the whole hour. I think I was still tired from the race the day before. 60 minute run/6.26 miles/9:40 average/54 degrees/HR 146. My swim was shorter too, for the same reason. 48 min swim/1600 meters
Tuesday: ride. 60 min ride/18.2 MPH/18.2 miles/Temp 64/HR 144 I waited about 45 min longer than last week to hop on the bike and there was so much more traffic, that it apparently motivated me to go a little faster. I’m getting better about using a consistently higher cadence also, which is good news.
Wednesday. swim/run. 49 min swim/1800 meters. I’ve started more loosely following the Be Iron Fit swim plans (I wasn’t following them at all before) and so have started with a warm up, a set of drills, the workout, another set of drills and the cool down. 60 minute stroller run/6.03 miles/9:58 average/Temp 62/HR 152. Wednesday is typically track day, but I had enough time after the swim to throw the twins in the stroller, and they wanted to go, so we went. I did miss running with the group but it was to have the workouts for the day done early and be able to hang out with the family that evening.
Thursday bike/run quick change. 45 min ride/13.76 miles/18.2 MPH/72 degrees/HR 144 followed by 15 min run/1.69 miles/9:01 average/72 degrees/HR 152
Friday: long run. 75 min run/8.21 miles/9:09 average/61 degrees/HR 149Friday has typically been my rest day but after having a weekend day to rest last week I realized I kinda liked it. Also, since that tropical storm was supposed to run through Sunday’s weather looked less than stellar and Friday was a nice cool morning.
Saturday: long ride. 3 hour ride/54.35 miles/18.2MPH/72 degrees/HR 143 This was technically supposed to be 2 hour 45 min ride but we thought we were going to come up short and did some extra…..we were wrong. Its kinda ridiculous how long that extra 15 minutes feels mentally when you were prepared for something shorter. But, it didn’t help that my PSAOS was being kind of a jerk and I could feel my whole right side tightening up the whole last hour. Also, my crotch was less than pleased. I may be investing in a new seat. It’s always something. On the plus side, no knee issues! Get home, eat all the food!
Sunday:rest day eat all the food part 2
Total Time: 9 hours 52 minutes ( close enough )
Training Thoughts: A comfy crotch is a happy crotch. Also, CAN I EAT ALL THE FOOD NOW?!?!
5 months simultaneously feels like not enough time and an eternity away.
Monday: run/swim. 60 minute stroller run/6.02 miles/10:00 pace/Temp 54/HR 149. Bryan had to be at work early and I had dentist appointment at 10 to pick up my new invisalign retainer (woo hoo) so I pushed the twins. My right knee argued with me a little, and I was less than pleased. 58 minute swim/2000 meters. I got to the pool a bit early and warmed up, then my friend and I did the usual 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 swim workout. The drills today focused on arm position entering the water. We skipped the fast 100 and I did an extra cool down.
Tuesday – ride. 60 minute ride/17.5 miles/17.5 MPH/Temp 70/HR 143 Yay! For the first time in a couple of weeks I completed a ride without my knees bothering me! I felt them a little afterwards but here is hoping this means improvement.
Wednesday swim/run. 59 minute swim/1900 meters. I tried one of the drills that was suggested to me that I could use without fins (and finally ordered my own) and for the rest I did sets of 50, 100 and 200 with set rest between. I took some longer rest periods. 60 minute run/6.5ish miles/81 degrees/no HR. I forgot my heart rate monitor. This run was split into two runs- a 3 mile run prior to the pub run and then the 3 mile pub run. It was hot. The theme was “Twinkies and Selfies”, so I got to try a chocolate flavored twinkie. It was….ok
Thursday ride/run quick change. 45 minute trainer ride in which I forgot to connect my speed sensor so I have no idea how slow I was. I couldn’t for the life of me get my heart rate up and finally did the last 5 minutes. On the plus side, I got to watch about half of a movie. 15 minute run/1.71 miles/8:46 pace/75 degrees/HR 153. I also did 10 minute of yoga that morning which of course counts. My knees felt ok during the ride but complained for a couple hours after.
Friday: long run. 60 minute run/6.34 miles/9:28 pace/66 degrees/HR 149 My knees, again, complained a bit for a few hours after. BUT, no complaints during.
Saturday rest day- I taped my knee as a precaution.
Sunday: James Island Sprint Triathlon. I skipped the long ride (and cut the week a little short) and did this instead. I’ll be posting a recap, so for now I’ll say it wasn’t my best race – I didn’t PR, but I DID get this:
And NO knee issues.
Total Time: 8 hours 35 minutes (planned 9) – including yoga and pre race warm up
Training Thoughts: endurance is a whole new ball game, and my thoughts that taking it “easy” would help prevent injury don’t really seem to be true. All it took was for my cleats to be a quarter inch off what is optimal and my knees and gradually the rest of my body was complaining. Must. Keep.Stretching. Also, how the hell am I supposed to fit strength training in here?? Also, coffee out of mug trophies just tastes better. 🙂
This week marks the max amount of hours I think I have ever spent training – ever. The sad part? This is still phase one or the “base phase”, so its only going to keep going up from here.
Monday: ride/swim. 58:20 minute ride/17MPH/16.62 miles/61 degrees/HR 138. The goal of this ride was to increase my cadence, ideally to 100+. I ended up around 80. I did a few laps around my neighborhood and ventured out a bit when I got bored. I focused on cadence some, but not the whole ride. 56:53 swimming/1600 meters. A decent amount of this was spent resting, but my friend and I did a set of ” 5, 4, 3, 2, 1″, which basically means 500m alternating swim and pull, 400 meters alternating swim and kick, 300 meters with the goal to “build” (I didn’t), 200 meters of drills, and 100 meters all out. The all out wore me out so I did a 100m cool down and then quit for the day.
Tuesday – run. 75 minute stroller run/7.53 miles/9:58 average/63 degrees/ HR 153. How the twins tolerated a 75 minute run is beyond me, but they did and for that they are pretty awesome.
Wednesday– swim/run. 54:31 swim/2000 meters. Combination of laps and drills, some with and some without. Nothing too exciting here. 60 minute run/6.15 miles/9:46 pace/90 degrees (!!)/ HR 154. Ugh is all I have to say about this one. It was HOT. Uncomfortable and HOT. I just wanted it to be over so I could eat…..and eat we did – we all met at Charleston Sports Pub afterwards for Tami’s birthday.
Thursday quick change ride/run and yoga. 45:22 ride/12.62 miles/16.7 MPH/63 degrees/HR 145. 15 minute run/ 1.74 miles/8:38 pace/63 degrees/HR 149. I actually managed a 90 bike cadence average on this ride, but interestingly my heart rate average, although still in zone 2, was a little higher than it usually is. The run felt fantastic, and again just goes to show you the difference temperature can make. Just this week I’ve had a run in zone 2 average an 8:38 all the way to a 9:46 (non stroller run). Later that afternoon, after fighting with hamstring and hip discomfort all week, I did the 30 minute yoga for runners video. The twins thought this was an awesome opportunity to crawl through the tunnel.
Friday: REST
Saturday: long run swim. As the week went on I was feeling more and more discomfort in my hip, which is what tends to act up when my PSOAS is tight. I’ve also had some discomfort in my knees when riding, and had been unsure what issue is causing what. My chiro, who is also a cyclist, agreed with my suspicions that maybe my bike fit is off, and that everything seemed unusually tight. I had planned to cut the run down anyway since we were spending the day walking at the zoo, but thought maybe a swim would be better. 45 minute swim/ 2000 yards. I decided to swim for 45 minutes straight at a comfortable pace and see how far I got. At this pace, a 2.4 mile swim (minus wetsuit and current) would take me about an hour and 36 minutes, or a 2:29/100m pace. Slow.
Sunday long ride: 150 minute ride/41.2miles/16.5 MPH/58 degrees/HR unknown. This ride ended up as a bit of a SNAFU from the beginning. I forgot my inhaler so we stopped by my house to get it. I picked up my HR monitor (I forgot that also) but it never connected to my watch, so I just went without it. I also forgot to re-start my watch twice. But its done, so yay for that.
After the ride Erik, Tami’s husband, was kind enough to check out my bike fit for me. It seems the bike itself is fit correctly, but he adjusted my cleats on my shoes (I had both new pedals and cleats within the last couple months), so hopefully that is enough. He also mentioned the increase in mileage could play a factor, as I increased from an hour a week to 3-4 hours a week pretty abruptly. Finally I was able to meet with the coach from last weeks’ swim clinic, who went over my video and made drill suggestions. Here’s hoping I can knock some time off my swim between now and October.
So, according to this Zone 2 theory, all of these training runs and rides (my HR monitor doesn’t work in the pool) are supposed to teach your body to burn more fat than sugar during your workouts, which is important for your endurance (so you don’t “bonk” as they say). Although your paces start out lower, eventually they are supposed to return to what you consider “your pace” and hopefully even faster. Many things can affect your heart rate for the day, including temperature, humidity, stress, fatigue etc. So far I’ve had a run average 8:50 (solo in cool temps) all the way 10:15 (humid, warm, pushing stroller). Although I don’t expect to see much improvement until fall because increasing temps tend to just slow me down, I’m still interested to keep track as I go.
Monday – Run/Swim. Run – 9:03/mile. Average HR: 144 Temp: 52 degrees. 30 minute run early morning with Chance. This was one of those runs where I finally felt warmed up 22 minutes in, so that was fun. Swim at lunch – 1800 meters with a combinations of laps and drills. This time we focused on stroke count. At the end I did 500 meters straight in 11:40, which is 30 seconds faster than the last time I did this, but I’ve also been working on kicking further away from the wall before I start my stroke so I am unsure if I’m actually getting faster.
Tuesday – Bike/Run brick. 60 minutes on bike = 16.24 miles. Average 17.2 MPH Average HR 146. Temperature 54 degrees. 30 minute run = 3.35 miles. Average 8:58/mile. Average HR 150. Temperature 59 degrees. It felt warmer than 59 degrees.
Wednesday – Swim/Run. Eaaaaarly morning swim. 1800 meters – mostly laps and some drills. One set of 8 x50 said 1:00, which I took to mean aim to finish in 1:00. Then 4×100 in 1:45-2:00, and I assumed the same. This meant I was hauling ass to try to finish within the goal time, and as it turns out the goal was more consistency between laps than speed. I ended up doing 6×50 fast and 2 easy, and 2×100 fast and 200 easy. I did hit between 57-59 seconds on the 50’s and hit 2:00 once on the 100’s. Speed work for the run, but since we are doing Zone 2 this meant many easy laps around the track. 45 minutes = 5 miles. Temp 81 degrees. 9:00/mile average. Heart rate and average off a little because I did one lap of speed.
Thursday – ride/run brick. 28 minute ride (ended early because of a thunderstorm) = 8.41 miles. Average HR 145. Average speed 18.1 MPH. Temp 84. Quick transition to 15 minute run = 1.69 miles. Average HR 148. Speed 8:54/mi Temp 84, but raining, so it felt cooler.
Friday – rest day
Saturday – long run. 60 minute run on the trail with a couple tri friends and the twins. It was HUMID. Spent some of this run in Zone 1, but didn’t care, because it was HUMID. Did I mention it was humid? 5.79 miles. 10:12/mi Average HR 148. Temp: 66 degrees (but it felt like 85, because it was….are you ready? HUMID)
Sunday – long ride. 90 minute ride. 26.43 miles. Average speed 17.6 MPH. Average HR 138. Temp: 72
Total Time: 7 hours 56 minutes, plus 15 minutes of weights.
Training Thoughts: I’ve been surprised to find that I’m not as fatigued workout to workout as I expected. My highest training week for the Olympic last year was 9 hours, and I just remember feeling tired. BUT, I was always PUSHING and made the majority of my workouts high effort. I’m also surprised to find I’m not as anxious to add more speed, but maybe thats because the hours just keep increasing.
It’s funny how an incident can change what ends up on your bucket list. For years, I was a runner. I ran 4-5 days a week. Sometimes I pulled on my rollerblades (yes, I still own rollerblades) or took a yoga class but the majority of the time I was lacing up my running shoes.
Then, after the twins were born, I likely made the mistake of jumping back in too quickly (ha), and injured myself. Like, I was limping around just walking, panicked I had broken or torn something and I’d have to give up running. When the chiropractor suggested I started biking (ok….), and then swimming (omg) I initially laughed. Biking was ok – Bryan had gotten me a hybrid for my birthday and I enjoyed the occasional ride, but swimming? I can’t swim! I could dog paddle to the end of the pool, but any considerable distance? No way. Still, I wanted to be able to keep running, so I reluctantly tried it.
Today, I started looking at half ironman training plans.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I wanted a bigger challenge than the sprints this year, but wasn’t sure about the swimming or training time commitment with two toddlers for a half ironman, so I met in the middle and chose an Olympic Distance. Interestingly, Olympic distance races can still vary some in the specific lengths of each sport (which makes no sense to me), and Kiawah was a .7 mile (1125 meter) swim, 25 mile bike ride and an almost 10k (6.1 miles).
Race day began early…..really early. My alarm went off at 4am. Luckily, even though the majority of the group was training for the Augusta Half Ironman the next weekend, there was another person racing Kiawah, and he so graciously allowed me to ride along. I was at his house by 4:30 am and we were on our way by 4:45.
I didn’t even know what 4:45 looked like before Sunday.
It’s dark.
Anyway, the first stop was packet pickup and number marking.
310 is my lucky number?
Then setting up the transition area.
Ready to Roll
And of course take a pre race picture.
Ready as I’ll ever be
The walk to the race start was about 10 minutes or so – across a road, down a boardwalk and .7 miles down the beach, since the swim was a straight shot end to end. As luck would have it, we were walking towards the beach just as the sun was coming up.
Seriously, you couldn’t beat this
The swim start was in waves. The first group started at 7:30 and each subsequent group in 3 minute increments. I was in the 3rd group slated to start at 7:36. By the time the groups started going I was just ready to go.
The Swim
Distance: .7 miles (or 1125 meters)
Goal time: under 30 minutes
This race was unlike the sprints in that the swim didn’t start in the water. Not only that but you had to “run” to a point where the water was deep enough to actually start swimming….. with 62 of your closest friends all trying to do the same. I settled myself near the end because I knew I’d be slower and wanted to be kicked as little as possible. Luckily, once that horn went off my competitive mode set in and killed any and all nerves I had at the start. I was SO glad I had done that one ocean practice swim, because the conditions of the water then made this seem like a breeze, relatively speaking. I ran into probably 3 people and ran directly into one buoy (oops), but other than that the swim went pretty smoothly. I concentrated on getting form buoy to buoy and tried not to worry about anything else. There was a bit of a current too so that helped. I actually finished swimming in 27 minutes and some change, but getting out of the water was another challenge, and the transition mat was actually up the beach by the boardwalk, which added another couple minutes.
Actual time: 30:06
I’m the one in the green cap.
Haha, the one with the “Y” on the leg
Transition 1
Goal time: just don’t fall
Typically people in triathlons are selfless, but the dude in the transition area next to me was not. By the time I got to my transition, my bike was on top of (instead of next to) my stuff. Luckily, the guy on my left had already gone, so I just used his space. Also, it was the LONGEST.RUN.EVER from the transition mat to the actual transition area. Socks on, shoes on, helmet on, applesauce (yes I fuel with squeeze applesauce) in pockets, sunglasses on, inhaler at the ready and I was off.
Actual time: 2:11
The Bike
Distance: 25 miles
Goal time: under 1 hour 20 minutes
For a 1 hour 20 minute finish time, I needed to maintain a 19 mph average. I’d tried to do this at the last few group rides by going off on my own more and had been mostly successful, but tired. Race day can be a different environment for sure, but I didn’t expect any drastic difference. Boy was I wrong, and in a good way. A fellow triathlete and friend told me once during my last sprint that I was “mashing”. Basically, that means I was pedaling too hard and likely wearing my legs out more than I needed to. The problem always was I wasn’t sure how to spin enough on a lower gear and keep my speed up. Well, something clicked and I figured it out. The race course itself was nice – though I could have done without the traffic that just wasn’t sure how to handle the fact that there were bikers on the road. I finished the first 15 miles at a great pace, and was starting to tire a little when a group caught up to me. My competitive side kicked in and I wanted to keep up with them, and so that gave me the boost I needed.
Actual time: 1 hour, 13 minutes, 9 seconds (!!!)
Transition 2
Goal time: I really didn’t have one. I had no idea what to expect.
So, remember the mystery dude who stuck my bike on top of my stuff in transition 1? Well, this time he stuck HIS bike on top of my stuff, leaving no room for my bike. Bad form, mystery dude (or dudette I suppose). So, I had to MOVE his bike in order to make room for mine, and I just stood there for probably 15 seconds feeling like I had forgotten something before I actually moved.
Actual time: 2:01
The Run
Goal time: under 50 minutes
Charleston isn’t Charleston without its oppressive heat and humidity, which has FINALLY started breaking the week before. Unluckily, the temperature decided to creep back up over the weekend with a high of 90. So, by the time the run started, it was warm. The first few miles weren’t so bad because it was shaded. Around mile 4 the run took us down the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL, but WARM, and it slowed my pace down significantly. In the end my run time was a little over what I’d hoped for but all in all I couldn’t complain.
Actual time: 50:44
And just like that, it was over. Amazing how something you train so hard for for so long is over in just a few hours. I stopped my watch, glanced down, and realized I had beat my goal time by 7 minutes!
Sunday: Run 41 minutes (5 miles)/swim 35 minutes (1,400 yards). I had planned to try out another ocean swim, but with an hour drive one way and a friend who backed out I decided to stay home. Whether or not that was a good decision for race day is yet to be determined but it was COOL outside and so I was able to push the stroller at an 8:12/mile pace!
Monday: Swim 40 minutes (1700 meters). Swam 1100 meters straight (race is 1125) and then did some drills. I’m still slow but I honestly feel like my form is getting better.
Tuesday: Ride 51 minutes (16 miles). I joined the group ride and cut out early.
Wednesday: Run 24 minutes (3 miles). It was a local running store’s first Pub Run. Usually Wednesday is speed work day but as a group we decided to participate in this instead. Of course, the twins came along. It was a 3 mile run around downtown Summerville, followed by a drink. Who can say no to that?
Thursday: Swim 25 minutes (1250 yards). My official final training workout. It felt a little weird to complete, to be honest.
The final workout is complete
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: Rest day (walk with twins)
The nice thing about taper week is it freed up more time in my schedule to start taking the twins for walks again (the cooler weather helped too). The walking also helped tamper the “taper crazies” by allowing me to move without fatiguing my muscles too much.
So, for real now, training is officially over, and race day is TOMORROW.
Journey To the Finish Line 