Columbia Triathlon Training Week 7

Monday

Mother Nature decided to grace south central Pennsylvania with one last snowfall Sunday night which meant I stayed at home instead of going back to school. I squeezed in a quick run in between classes and ended up running in the middle of the day. It was scary how hot 65 and sunny felt. I'm certainly happy to see winter go but I'm not a big fan of running in the heat.

After my run I went to the gym to get in some strength work. I upped my weights quite a bit this week and my legs and butt were sore until Wednesday. I guess I'm doing something right, right?

3.08 miles, 9:47 avg.
50 min strength

Tuesday

This is when things started to go downhill. I was sore from lifting on Monday and felt really sluggish during my swim. I just couldn't get into a groove and my stroke felt off so I did a lot of drills and technique work.

I knew I felt tired during my swim but I didn't realize how exhausted I really was until this run. I didn't necessarily feel that bad but I was running considerably slower. Normally I end up speeding up a tad as my runs go on but instead I slowed down considerably. It was frustrating but it was out of my control.

2200 yd swim
4.3 mile run, 9:56 avg.

Wednesday

This swim wasn't much better than Tuesday's. Despite working on my technique the previous day my stroke still felt off. I felt something like a flailing duck which is never much fun. I was planning on doing 200's but switched to descending 100's and 50's after seeing I wasn't feeling much better. While a comfortably hard 100 might take me 1:12-1:13 I was putting up 1:15-1:16. It wasn't a big difference but I'm very type A about this stuff. All in all it wasn't a terrible swim but it certainly wasn't my best.

3000 yd swim

Thursday

After a tough strength session on Monday I was anxious to get back into the gym on Thursday. After reading Katie's latest post I have been intrigued about doing pull ups. I was never able to do them even when I swam and a little part of me was always bothered by that. The gym at UMBC has a pull up assist machine which is awesome. I was able to select a weight that allowed me to do 4 x 4 chin ups. Baby steps.

I had been out late with friends Wednesday night and overslept so I ended up missing my run. I tried to make it up later in the day in between classes but it just didn't work out.

50 min strength

Friday

Finally, a great run.

4.4 mile run, 9:05 avg.

Saturday

After doing a bit of a harder run on Friday I wasn't sure my legs would hold up for a longer run. I wanted to get in 8 miles but gave myself the option of bailing at 6 if I felt that bad. I made sure to keep the pace relaxed and easy. It's weird how 8 miles is considered a long run now when last fall long meant 18 miles. This run flew by though and I felt great the entire time. Mission accomplished.

8.13 mile run, 9:21 avg.

Sunday

rest

5200 yards
19.91 miles run
6 hours 29 min