Well, I'm half way through this new round of training, with volume being the name of the game here. I gotta say, trying to add this much volume into the schedule sucks. It was hard enough where I was before, but now trying to get in a couple of 2+ hr rides on the bike a week, plus a couple 1+hr runs in and then the swimming and the lifting, it's brutal! The lifting has definitely taken a back seat, but I'm trying to keep that up as well. I don't know how some people do it, and maintain any sort of life. Luckily, the family is supportive. The other day we had beautiful weather and I was able to get in a 2 hour ride while Shawna took the kids to the park. This was after a few days earlier when I didn't come home from work right away. Instead I tackled the Bogus hill climb with some friends from work. Shawna had some lunch plans, and with a late start waiting for everyone, I wasn't able to finish the full 16miles up the mountain, but I did manage 12.6 miles and they were pretty hard. I had to stop twice, just to give my legs a rest, even if it was only for a minute or two.
I did the hill climb, and then the next day I did an 8 mile run outside. I'm trying to get more runs outside with the weather being nicer. I need to learn how to pace myself while out on the streets and not just based on what a treadmill is telling me. The 8 mile run went well, but the 6 mile I did yesterday was better in terms of pacing. After the 8 miler though, my right hip starting hurting. Nothing too bad, but just something that I had never experienced before. My hip flexor was just tight and sore, and I am attributing it to not stretching my hips before the run like I usually do. That 8 mile run was a last min thing, so I just threw my shoes on and went for it. While on the run, I realized that I'm not the smartest person in the world.
I say I'm not the smartest because I have been planning on doing the run portion of the triathlon's with a visor (everyone else does, so why not me?). I've never really worn a visor on my runs before, but I will now. About mile 5 into the 8 miles, I started to really sweat. The heat was in the mid to high 80's and I was starting to feel it. The sweat starting getting into my eyes, but I just kept going. The sweat kept coming too. Pretty soon, my eyes were on fire from the stinging of the sweat now making it's pilgrimage to my eyeballs. While suffering with the stinging eyes and trying to not get run over, it donned on me. Why the hell do I not have a visor on? I mean, I plan on using one for the event, why not now??? Sure, my sunglasses protected me from the suns rays, but not from the sweat. When I got done with that run, Shawna made a comment about how my eyes, in particular the left one, was totally blood shot, and asked if I was ok. From now on, I will wear a visor.
My 6 mile run yesterday was great for pacing. I usually average a 7:30-7:45 mile pace outside without really pushing it. I call it my cruising pace, as I feel that I can push out that pace forever. I still don't have a heart rate monitor that I can use at home, so I can't tell you where I'm at for my HR with that kind of pace. For the quick 6 that I did yesterday, I really wanted to push the pace a little bit and keep a sub 7:15 for the entire run. The night before, I had done some serious speed work on the treadmill, and the beginning of the run I thought that I might have bitten off too much. My legs felt really heavy and slow. I felt like I was not going very fast and was really working to keep a good pace. That first mile actually went down under 7 min at 6:50, the next mile was under 7:15 as well. For all 6 miles, I kept the pace under 7:10 except for one mile that was a 7:17. The last mile was the hardest because of a wicked head wind from the storm that was coming in. I was able to keep that one under 7:10 as well, and while walking home the rain starting falling, and falling hard. I was glad I got that run done before the storm. I still have one more distance run to cover this week, and I'm planning on that run being done on Sat while at work. I will use the treadmill to keep a 7:00/mile pace and see how it goes from there. At work we have a quarterly fitness evaluation which has a mile and half run at the end. I'm able to easily be under 9 min for that, so there is no reason why I can't be closer to maybe a 6:30-6:45 pace for my longer runs, it's just a matter of pushing myself.
My Xlab stuff came in, and I got it mounted on the bike and ready to roll. I had ordered the "mini-wing" kit, which is their bottom end double bottle behind the seat mount. It came with a very small bag that squeezed in between the two bottle holders. I did the ride up to Bogus with both bottles on the back end of the bike, but that's it. After that, I stripped the left bottle rack off the frame, and bolted my old saddle bag in it's place. This was the idea that I had before I bought the kit, and so far seems to work out nicely. I did a 37 mile ride the other day with that set up and it was great. Used the water bottle on the down tube with some Powerade, and then had water w/ electrolyte mix in the Torhans and then an extra water in the Xlab mount. Refilling was fairly easy for being on the go, and I was even able to add some more electrolyte tabs with my fresh water. I'll be posting pics of the bike in a new tab that I will have pics of what I'll be racing with so you'll be able to see the Xlab set up along with the Adamo seat and the Torhans system etc.
Swimming is coming along, still a smidge slower than I was before, or so I think; but I'm getting back at being comfortable with my swim and not having a million technical things running through my head while I'm swimming. This is making me more comfortable, and making the longer distance swims more bearable. I did a 3x 500yd last week, and then a 2x 800yd this week for my longer swims, and then the intervals on top of it. After this season is over, I plan on revamping my swimming and getting more technical, but for now, I'm just going to swim and enjoy it.
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