Recovery Week

It probably seems kind of strange to have a recovery week so close to the taper and race, but boy did I need it. I have had several recovery weeks in my schedule during the past few months but have ignored almost all of them. I've had a few lower volume weeks due to races, travel, etc, but that's it. But with a stretch of huge training weeks behind me and my two biggest weeks ahead, the timing was right. I was ready for the break and really took advantage of it. Probably too much so! Even with easier/shorter workouts scheduled, I still completely skipped one day of training (thursday) and cut another day way back (tuesday). I did a little extra here and there though which sort of made up for it, but ended up with two hours less than planned. There was nothing easy about my weekend though- a 17 mile run and a 76 mile bike ride. It ended up being a pretty decent week. I got the mental break I needed and lots of bonus couch/movie time, but I still got in the important workouts. I admit my enthusiasm is fading but I'm so close I know I can push through. I'm looking forward to the taper though, that is for sure. Then the race. Then cookie time (which is how I'm referring to life after the Ironman, because I'm going to do nothing but eat cookies for the next calendar year).

Here is the recap:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Run
4.0 miles/37:36/9:24 average pace
Quick easy run. Half of what I was supposed to do. Then I skipped swimming!

Wednesday: Bike
1:00 spin
With Alisa! :) Pretty good workout.

Wednesday: Run
4.5 miles/44:51/9:58 average pace
Nice run with Deana after spin class.

Wednesday: Swim
2200 yards/1:00
Masters. The only time I made it to class this week. Yikes!

Thursday: Rest
Yup

Friday: Run
8.5 miles/1:14:58/8:49 average pace
Added a bit to the scheduled run. Felt fantastic!

Friday: Swim
1250 yards/30:00
Make-up swim at the gym.

Saturday: Run
17.0 miles/2:30:36/8:52 average pace
Springwater trail in East Portland/Greshem.

I was watching the weather forecast pretty carefully this week and it looked pretty certain that Saturday was going to be rainy. I decided I would rather run for a couple of hours in the rain than ride all day in it, so I swapped my Saturday/Sunday training. When I woke up it was pretty decent out and I was thinking I should have just done my ride. I started running about 10:00 am and it was cloudy but dry and about 69 degrees. Within 2 miles it was raining and the temperature dropped a few degrees. By three miles into the run it was a torrential downpour and there was lightning. Hehe. I was glad I wasn't riding! I determined the lightning was not very close so I just kept running and got my 17 miles in. The rain let up a little but never stopped and I ended up with some decent chafing as a result. Youch. I was happy with the run though- it was nice being able to do it on fresh-ish legs rather than after a 5+ hour ride and I was pleased with my pace.

Sunday: Bike
76.1 miles/5:07:42/14.8 MPH
Hagg Lake/Patten Valley Road/Springhill Road

We drove out to Hagg Lake and Zach rode his mountain bike with me. We had a rough plan that would take him about 40 miles and then I was going to finish the ride on my own. Rather than just riding around the lake we headed out and found a couple gorgeous roads to ride. One of them was part of the Century ride last weekend. We rode along a little valley with farmland in the middle and flanked on the sides by small hills covered in trees in all their autumn color glory. Beautiful! It was pretty flat with some rolling hills and very little traffic, perfect for riding. It was cloudy with a little sprinkle but toward the end the sun came out. Much better than the day before, so I'm glad I switched the schedule around.

About halfway through the ride I was feeling really negative and blah. I was enjoying the ride but was pissed that I had to ride another 40 miles still. I was ready to cut the ride short. (This is very demonstrative of how my enthusiasm for ridiculously long training sessions is waning.) Zach was great, he said he would ride with me longer so we went back out and rode the pretty rolling valley route again. We finally headed back up to Hagg lake and Zach finished with 67 miles on his mountain bike. Wow! Considering how heavy that bike is and with the knobby tires, he sure made it look easy. I rode one lap around hilly Hagg Lake and met him down the road at the country store where he had sandwiches and chips and soda waiting. Awesome. I was really glad he rode with me and helped motivate me to do the planned 5 hour ride. It ended up being a great ride thanks to him. :)

Sunday: Swim
600 yards/15:00
We went over to the gym to sit in the steam room and hot tub and I jumped in the pool for a few laps. It was unplanned so I didn't have my nose clip or goggles. I did some kicking and then Zach found a pair of goggles in his gym bag. I found out I can easily do breast stroke without the nose clip which is good to know. I did a few laps of freestyle to and it was fine. I really do love me some nose clip though and won't be giving it up anytime soon.



totals for the week:
swim: 1:45 (4,050 yards)
bike: 6:10 (76 miles + spin)
run: 5:10 (34 miles)

total recovery week volume: 13:05

5 weeks until IMAZ

A couple pictures from the ride today. They don't really show the colors:

Thanks for reading. Have a great week! :)

17:30

As always, I'm typing this up Sunday night before bed and I'm exhausted and I'm not going to do myself justice with this recap. This is once again my biggest week of training ever. I rode 107 miles yesterday and eliminated any remaining doubt that I can do the 112 mile ride in the Ironman. I had a couple spectacular runs and one awful one. I didn't swim much but that's ok. I'm really feeling good and while I'm maybe getting a little sick of all this training, I am feeling confident. It's not that much longer, I can get through this.

Here is the quickie summary and then a few pictures.


Monday: rest

Tuesday: Run
10.0 miles/1:20:01/8:06 average pace
Fantastic run in Forest Park. The first 5 miles were 8:42 average pace and the last 5 were 7:18 average pace. It was effortless, even on the hills. Definitely one of those runs that reminds me why I do this shit.

Wednesday: Bike
1:00
Spin class, no Alisa since she was in Hawaii!

Wednesday: Run
4.5 miles/44:55/9:59 average pace
Easy run with Deana. She ran the 4.5 PLUS she had already run from her house which is about a mile away. That's maybe one of her longest runs so far? Awesome.

Wednesday: Swim
2700 yards/1:10
Class started late so even 10 minutes extra was actually like 20 minutes after. That was as long as I could make it because I was starving.

Thursday: Bike
22.5 miles/1:33:45/14.4 MPH
Really annoying ride. The Springwater trail had a detour set up right in the middle of where I like to do my repeats, so I had to come up with a different route which didn't work out, and I ended up riding around the parks and trail segments and through traffic that all resulted in a super slow ride. It was very frustrating.

Thursday: Swim
2000 yards/1:00
Zach finally came to Masters! We did a lot of drills and non-freestyle stuff but whatever. It's all beneficial I think.

Friday: Run
9.0 miles/1:18:17/8:42 average pace
Marine Drive after work. I made a point not to look at my watch the whole time and was just running by feel. I felt great! It was really neat to look at my splits after because I ran the middle five miles at exactly 8:40-8:42 pace. Talk about consistent!

Saturday: Bike
107 miles/7:12:45/14.8 MPH
Harvest Century
I was pretty nervous for the century ride since Zach wasn't going to be riding with me and Anne decided to skip it too. The distance was intimidating and I was just not into it. I got up about 5:15 and ate my usual breakfast and Zach drove me out to Hillsboro. It was COLD at the start- 40 degrees. Thankfully I had purchased some shoe covers and a warm head band the day before and that completely saved me! I stopped at all the rest stops and ate and called Zach to check in. I took it really easy and the first 40 miles were like nothing. It sort of warmed up and I continued to feel good for the middle miles. At mile 70 or so, a bee flew down my shirt and stung me on the boob. I found and killed the bee at the nearest rest stop and just didn't think about it until after. It wasn't that bad actually, but really weird! We stopped at the final rest stop at mile 82 and I was still feeling good. Pushed hard to the end and then ended up missing the final turn and rode a couple extra miles at the very end. I was feeling really good and thought it was kind of cool, the more the merrier! Zach was waiting at the finish and hung out with me while I ate my burger and chugged my beer. All in all, this ride was not that hard. That's good!! We went out to dinner with some friends and I didn't get to bed until about midnight.

Sunday: Run
14.0 miles/2:11:15/9:23 average pace
I was pretty sore this morning of course, so I decided to take Kim's advice and delay my long run for a few hours. I think this was good for my legs but it was hard to get motivated later in the day. I'm definitely a morning person for this kind of stuff. I finally drove up to Lacamas Lake and started my run about 2:00 pm. The run was pretty brutal- I was tired, bored, and just not that into it. It was slow going but I got it done. Headed over to Emily's after for fireside cocktails and Halloween crafts.

totals for the week:

swim: 2:10 (4700 yards)
bike: 9:45 (129.8 miles)
run: 5:35 (37.5 miles)

total training volume: 17:30

wow.

6 weeks to Ironman Arizona. Hang in there.




Pictures!

Harvest Century Ride

Before the start: Do I look excited? Cause I'm not. I'm nervous and freezing cold.

Off I go:

First rest stop at 16.5 miles:

Lunch stop at mile 41 at an elementary school:

Taking the Canby Ferry across the Willamette at mile 70:

Finally finishing. Check out the guy behind me with a finger gun to the head. He wasn't as OK with the extra mileage as I was:

BBQ:

Dead Guy Ale:

Banjo and band in background:

One last item is that I found out this week that Maritza, Deana, and her girlfriend Dana are all flying down to support me in Phoenix for the Ironman. My other best friend Inga lives there and will be housing the whole gang and there will be lots of family in town too. I feel extremely grateful and blessed for the support of my wonderful friends and I know it will really help me to have a great race. It really really really (x 100) means a lot to me to have them there. :)

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!