Monday, July 07, 2008

Giant Week

My first week of being unemployed lead to an enormous volume of training. The smoke finally cleared and I got over my cough, and ended up with a lot of good workouts. I'd call it a "bike focused" week because I rode that 50 mile loop twice and did very little running. I passed on the 5k, which is fine. I was not mentally or physically prepared to put forth that kind of effort.

Here's how the rest of the week went:

Thursday afternoon: bike
25.1 miles/1:33:17/16.1 MPH
Check out that average speed! A personal best. And truly "personal" because I did this ride, all on the roads, alone. That's a first!

Thursday later that afternoon: run
4.0 miles/35:59/9:00 pace

Friday am: swim
2500 yards/1:01:57
Special 4th of July Master's swim. Got invited to a bbq held by one of the coaches and spent the evening eating, drinking, and talking about swimming. Fun, mellow party, and very fun to see the coaches drunk.

Saturday: hangover/rest/shopping

Sunday mid-day: bike
50.0 miles/3:42:25/13.4 MPH
Redwood Road Loop again with Zach. Our speed wasn't much faster than Tuesday but I felt a million times better on the climbs. The second half got really really HOT, like over 100, so we couldn't push as hard on the way home. I stupidly didn't follow my nutrition plan (was going to practice race-day snacks) so I was pretty tired at the end. Got home, had a smoothie, cooled off a bit then headed out for a brick run:

Sunday afternoon: run
3.0 miles/27:49/9:17 average pace
It was u-g-l-y. I did what I could though, which was jog pathetically while dumping water on my head and stopping in the shade every 1/2 mile. I got a bad side cramp and felt kinda woozy. It had to be upper 90's if not 100+. It was probably unnecessary to put myself through that but I was disappointed in my low running miles for the week. Plus, my race will probably be a comparable sufferfest, so it was good mental training.

TOTALS for the week
17 miles Run, 140.7 miles bike, 7900 yards swim

TOTAL training time: 15 hours 50 minutes

Training is the new working. Also, stressing out about what I'm going to do with my life is the new relaxing with a beer after work. But still, awesome.

This coming week will be less volume and more of a "run focused" week. I'm doing that half-marathon on Sunday and I'll try to get in three runs before then. Also, the temperature is going to skyrocket and the air quality will be back to sucking, so I can't do as much outside. Last but not least, my in-laws from San Diego are coming into town today and staying till Thursday. It's all good though, I could use a little cut-back week. Then I've got about two more weeks of real training and then a taper. It's getting close! :) Have a great Monday, people!

15 comments:

Aron said...

WOW awesome job on the training! those are some serious bike rides! good luck this weekend in the half - you will do awesome!

not looking forward to the heat this week :( or the sucky air... as i was driving back into the east bay last night i could see the grossness and was sad... go away!

KK said...

Holy cow, those numbers are HUGE! Nice job pushing yourself through the pain on that last brick run. You are really good at that :).

P.S. I just tagged you. Sorry, kind of pointless after your "100 things about Jen" entry...but you're one of the few lucky ones whose blog I stalk :).

http://viewsfromthemountain.blogspot.com/2008/07/tagged.html

Nitmos said...

Half mary coming up?? Good luck. Hope that air quality improves.

SavvyFitChica said...

Great job on the training and I'm glad you're feeling better.

Keep working hard--- you're doing AWESOME!

ncrunner12 said...

You are hard core kid! Four days till the half, hope the air doesn’t get so bad that you get that sore throat back. Keep it up your training is very inspiring.

ShirleyPerly said...

Hey Jen, thanks for the 5K tips! I'm really looking forward to running in Montana as the weather should be cool (coming from FL) and I know the scenery will be terrific.

Way to put in the miles on the bike! I've found that eating on the bike is just too cumbersome and easy to forget. Liquid-only nutrition seems to be the way to go so I'm going to be experimenting with Infinit for my next 1/2 iron in Nov. Good luck nailing your nutrition down.

Gotta Run..... said...

Girl you are working your buns off!! Your "free time" seems to be working out well for you right now.

I am wishing for the perfect job to come your way!!! You deserve it!

N.D. said...

Isn't it great when you can do what you want to do! nice job upping the training! you mustf feel good!

miss petite america said...

dude. it's 108 here today. major. suckage.

but awesome numbers for this week. you put us all to shame!

Debbie said...

Nice training!! Good luck on the Half Marathon this weekend!!

Marathon Maritza said...

Look at me! I'm alive in the blogosphere!

sounds like you had a great workout week, keep it up! I miss you, let's hang out...unless...am I being replaced by Masters Swimmer friends???

:cry:

Judi said...

Nice numbers Jen and excellent bike avergae! You are doing it! No matter how many miles I get in I always feel it's not enough. Boo. But good luck with your half marathon this weekend. I hope the air doesn't suck too bad.

jahowie said...

Great job on the training!! Good luck on your race!! :-)

TJ said...

You're cranking out the miles. Great work! Good luck figuring out the work situation.

Donald said...

Wow - you keep cruising along with that mileage! Maybe I should try to get unemployed for a while.

Hopefully we'll have some cleaner air to breathe soon.