Gordo Bryn would call today a "big day" workout. It almost went as planned, but I had to cut my run short due to the fact that my family was hungry and I needed to take them to dinner. Plus, I was pretty hungry myself after my day's workout. Originally, I'd just planned to bike long and then run. However, the morning weather report was calling for rain, so I did an audible and decided to swim again today. I'd already swam twice in the past three days, both times swimming for nearly an hour straight. I'd talked to my coach yesterday about doing a longer swim in preparation for Ironman (same "over distance" concept as running and biking), and so that's what I did! I got in the water and focused on my form, which really seems to be coming around. The "two beat" kick has become natural, and really saves my legs for the bike and run. I was working today on my breathing, trying to keep my head from lifting up too much. And, I keep working on my stroke, especially making sure that I keep my hands together in the front quadrant. All in all, today was a huge success. My pace started around 1:45ish/100 yards and never slowed more than 1:55ish/100 yards, and I was able to bring it back closer to the 1:45 range at the end. Consistency is key in swimming, and if I'm able to maintain my pace at the end, I know that I'm doing something right. The best part of today, I swam 1 hour and twenty minutes straight, and swam 4400 yards. That's longer, in both distance and time, then I hope to do at Boulder. In fact, at this pace, and that's without a wetsuit, I'd expect my ironman swim to be back closer to the 1:12 swim times that I used to have. That would be great, especially in my new 60-64 age group. The best part is that I've got 4 weeks to go and the opportunity to continue to work on my swim! I really can't wait for after Boulder, when I'll get back with my new swim coach and work on continuing to improve for Kona. I really want to finish before the top women swim over me at the swim finish! I came out of the water today feeling good, not at all tired. I went home, had breakfast and got a haircut. The sun was peaking through and it looked like I would avoid the rain.
I got on my bike after 11 am and rode to Westlake Village. I have a 5.2 mile loop that I do repeatedly, and I did about 10 of them, all (but one) in my aero position. I love my new bike! I really love my new aero position. In fact, I did one loop sitting up, and it was less comfortable than being aero! Also, slower! This was a great opportunity to dial in my effort and my aero position and to see how it was working. My pace was pretty close to 20 mph, which was very encouraging, especially as I held my effort and pace for the 50 miles I rode around Westlake. I finished up by riding the hills home and then doing my local very hilly loop twice. No rest for the weary! Again, I really focused on staying in my aero position. I actually hit a little rain near the end, but it was more of a drizzle, and the ground wasn't really wet. I played around with my position a bit today, to try to see if anything was more aero, but at the end of the day, just staying comfortable in my aero position was fine and seemed to work. I wasn't wearing a triathlon suit and I didn't have my aero helmet on, so I probably can expect a little faster pace on race day (plus, I'll be rested). Did I say that I love my new bike?
When all was said and done, I got home around 5:30 pm, 5:47 on the bike, 98.8 miles. No reason to squeeze in the 1.2 to get to 100, it turned out that my family needed me. I was planning to run 3-4 miles, but instead, just ran the 0.4 mile hilly loop in my neighborhood to make sure my legs were fine, which they were! I'll save them for tomorrow's run. All in all, over 7 hours of training today, my swim and bike are definitely dialed in. Based on last weekend's long run, an how my legs felt coming off the bike today, I couldn't be happier with where I am.
The plan tomorrow is a 45 minute bike to get the legs feeling a little like they did at the end of today's bike, and then run as long as I can. Four weeks and two days to go before Boulder. I may hit 20 hours of training this week despite a couple of days with less training than I originally planned.
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