Week 12?!? Wow. Three months in and 24 weeks to go. Also, this post will have no pictures.
Week 12 was a little tough, only because of the weather and schedule issues. Monday we had what turned out to be a huge snowstorm, where we got close to a foot of snow. I was lucky that I swam very early in the morning that day. Wednesday we got a crazy ice storm, where 1/2 inch of ice fell. Trees came down, power lines came down, roads were treacherous and schools were closed. Thankfully, our coach is understanding and would suggest what we do instead of our scheduled workouts when we could not do them because of conditions, the YMCA being closed (so no pool) or being at home with the kids.
That said, weather issues aside, week 12 was really good. Something has shifted a bit and I'm feeling really good, really powerful and really positive about this race. I'm noticing definite, measurable progress in my workouts and, quite frankly, my body.
And as though the daily workouts geared toward the race were not enough, Lake Placid has decided to engage in an advertising blitz this year. So every day, at least once a day, I see a commercial for Placid on TV. And every day, at least once a day, I see a billboard for Placid when I drive my kids to and from school. It's on one of those digital billboards and it always sees me coming and switches to the Placid ad when I drive up, "Oh look there she is! Let's remind her about Lake Placid! LOL Ironman! LOL Whiteface Mountain! LOL!" lol. This is what the ad looks like, only it is bigger and has yellow and black on it. And it also laughs at me.
Anyway, onto the recap.
Week 12:
Week 12:
Swam: 1:30 hours (4,400 yards)
Biked: 4:41 hours (all on trainer)
Ran: 3:16 hours (21.75 miles)
Workouts:
Monday - swim
Tuesday - run with sprints
Wednesday - easy brick (had to make this an endurance bike because of ice and school closure)
Thursday - bike
Friday - easy, long run
Saturday - swim & brick
Sunday - long bike and short, easy run
Monday's swim was a really good one. I felt strong in the water. The funny thing about swimming is once I am in the pool, I love it. It's just getting to the pool that is tough. I think it's the Winter weather. But I swam my heart out on Monday. My watch was way off for some reason in terms of yards and I lost count on my last set of 400 yards. I ended up doing probably 100-200 more yards (i.e., 2-4 laps [4-8 lengths]) than the workout called for.
Tuesday's run was on the treadmill and it was hard. I had to do 15 minutes at endurance pace, which is an easy pace. Then 2 miles very fast with a 1/2 mile recovery and then another 2 miles very fast. It ended up being an hour and five minutes on the treadmill. Which was only outdone by my Friday easy long run of 75 minutes on the treadmill. The 75 minutes were really not bad - it was all endurance pace, so I just settled in and ran. And ran. And ran and ran and ran. I set the treadmill timer to 120 minutes, and that helped break the run into two parts: the 1:30-1:00 part and then the 1:00 to 0:15 part. I just had to pretend it was a new run when the timer hit one hour to go. I ended up running 8.1 miles.
Saturday. I usually have a two-a-day on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday has been what amounts to a triathlon: swim and then a brick. This Saturday, due to scheduling issues, I had to do everything all at once at the YMCA. I resisted the urge to be a full on tri-dork and wear my tri kit in the pool and then on the brick. So I wore my bathing suit in the pool, then changed into my SOAS kit for the brick. I was a little nervous about biking at the Y. But it worked out and I'm really only going by heart rate on the bike, so I wore my watch and measured my pace. It worked really well. I met a fellow triathlete (who noticed my kit which prompted us to have a conversation about triathlon while biking). He was doing exactly what I was and we later met up on the treadmills. Turns out we've done a lot of the same races. The triathlon world is a very small one.
Sunday - long bike on the trainer. 95 minutes! It went by fast and a good chunk of the bike was endurance pace, so I could read some magazines and my iPad. After the bike, I had an easy 30 minute run. I was thrilled to run outside. It was very cold but I did not care. I was running outside. Out-freaking-side.
This week is about the same as last - I'll just keep on keeping on. I am excited for February 22, which is the Frostbite 5 Miler race. I've run it the past two years and finished in 42:28 in 2012 (8:30 pace) and 40:50 in 2013 (8:10 pace). I need to confirm my coach's plan (or if he has one) for this race, but my own goal would be to break into the 7s like I did at the turkey trot in November and run it around 38:20 (7:40 pace). I plan to create another fast playlist like I did at the turkey trot, and I am looking forward to a race to break up all the training. I am also looking forward to the post-race spread -- MMMMMM food. Oh, and I am also looking forward to my new playlist. Rest assured it will be filled with really fast really questionable music. Giddy-up.
See you swoon,
you are so tough.
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