Week 3.

I am giving the weekly update tonight because I will be in Iowa City for University of Iowa orientation tomorrow and will be swamped with things to do!

After the recovery week my body was ready for a hard 7 days of volume and intensity.  That is exactly what I gave it! Following the productive Monday off day, I was back to work at 5AM for the sunrise ride from Wellness Revolution.  It was a hard effort, 2x 20:00 tempo efforts at above olympic race effort with a 30:00 transition run right after.  It felt really good to get a solid brick workout in early in the week. Tuesday night I finished off the day with a solid 30:00 spin on the indoor trainer and 30:00 high intensity lifting session.

Wednesday I had my first real long run back on the foot. I started with over an hour of spinning on the indoor trainer, high cadence in my aero bars, to get warmed up for the run. I ended up cruising through 8.5 miles at a sub 7:25 pace.  I was not pushing hard or holding myself back so I was happy. No pain on the foot either which I was pleased about.

Thursday I did a solo easy spin out ride for 30 miles and then had hopefully my last pool running session this season. I was going to do a land run but wanted to get some speed work in and wasn't quite ready to hit the track just yet. So I stuck with the speed ladder in the pool and gutted it out. Later in the day I finished up with another 30:00 easy spin on the trainer to get warmed up and a solid 30:00 lifting session with some serious foam rolling and stretcing.

Friday wasn't as high volume as the past three days but still intense workouts. Early in the morning I had a tempo run on land that felt great. It was my first run back where I truly could say I was near full strength. I felt light on my feet and my stride was able to open up. It was a 15:00 tempo and I was right around a 6:20 pace. Nothing crazy, just a good effort. Later in the morning I had 3400 yards in the pool with 9x 200's.

Saturday was my high volume session. I went out to Antioch, IL to ride with a few friends to Bigfoot Beach (Lake Geneva) and back. Ironically the race next weekend is at Bigfoot Beach so I was able to scope out the race site a little bit. As for the ride, I felt really good. I was very strong for 70 miles working in a pack with two of my good friends and training partners. I could have used two key things though: more fuel and some sunscreen! I got one out of the two..... The ride ended up being 90 miles on a medium-hilly course. My longest ride ever to date. After we did a 20:00 transition run at a good clip and enjoyed some rest from a long 5 hour training day.



Some much needed fuel after a hot 70 miles.

 

My girlfriend likes these tan lines!

As for today, Sunday, I had a 1 hour tempo bike ride and then a 45 min tempo run.  Really high intensity on both and felt very strong. The ride was 3x 8:00 at above half ironman pace effort and the run was a 1/2 mile near all out effort followed by a cruise the rest of the way. I got in exactly 10k on the run which is good prep for next weekend's olympic distance triathlon. This afternoon I had an easy 2000 yard recovery swim and now I am enjoying some U.S Open golf with Dad!

Bigfoot Beach, Lake Geneva

Wish me luck next weekend as I am heading out to Lake Geneva for the Bigfoot Triathlon.  I am applying to be in the Elite wave for this race and I am excited for the experience. I am also pumped to get back out there and compete! After almost 2 months of no competition, I am iching to get back out there and make something happen.

Weekly totals:

17:58:37 total hours

Swim- 8850 yards

Bike- 168.47 miles

Run- 33.45 miles

Water run- 1 hour

Lift- 2 hours