IMLP Training Recap: Week 28

Week 28 was pretty darn good and ended with another age group podium finish! I placed third in my age group in the Black Bear sprint triathlon in Lehighton Pennsylvania!  More details to come in the race recap later this week, but it was a fantastic race and a gorgeous day.  Amy and Bill each won 2nd place in their age groups too!  On Facebook I joked that this race was the Oprah race: "You get a medal! You get a medal! You get a medal!"


Team Awesome is, well, awesome!  [yes, our team is Team Awesome.  It has a backstory/inside joke meaning, but it's also from the Lego Movie, "Everything is Awesome! Everything is Awesome when you're part of a team!" And many times when the workouts seem way too much, we joke that everything really is awesome.  Ha.]


So, what was not awesome? On Saturday, I had a big a curve ball with some equipment challenges - namely, my bike.  I'll go into more detail below but Bill and I were supposed to ride about 60 miles and ended up scrapping it and doing just 11.  My bike is still not quite right (it is *not* supposed to honk like a goose when climbing steep hills), so I need to take it to Philadelphia Bike Smith for them to take a good look.

Anyway - workouts!

Week 28: 10:27:45 hours

Swam: 1:20:18 hours (3,777 yards)
Biked:  4:37:33 hours (67.9 miles)
Ran:  4:21:50 hours (28.3 miles)

Workouts:

Monday:  55 minute bike & 30 minute run
Tuesday:  Brick: 50 minute bike/3 mile run
Wednesday: Long run (16 miles)
Thursday:  Long, hard swim
Friday: Bike with Tempo & 3 mile shake out run
Saturday: scheduled long bike ride -- only made it 11 miles
Sunday: sprint triathlon (hilly, difficult course)

Monday was Memorial Day and an absolutely beautiful day.  I had a bike and a run and I did both outside.  The bike was terrific and fast.  The run was a bit of a struggle, but I got it done.

Tuesday was a brick, and it felt pretty good.  Not much else to say about this.

Wednesday was another long run.  It was really soupy outside: the air was thick and wet, and it was just uncomfortable.  I met Amy about 5 miles in and we ran a bunch together.  The run was a hybrid of our two workouts.  I ran 2 miles with a 4 minute run/1 minute walk (repeat), then moved to the 9 minute run/1 minute walk for a bit.  At mile 10 or so, we ran 3 miles with no walk breaks (that was in Amy's workout) and then from mile 13 moved back to the 9/1.  I was drenched when I came home - it was as though I swam in my clothes or ran in a downpour.  Gross!



Thursday's swim was one I was dreading: the main set was 5x400 yards hard.  AGH!  I got it done but it was tough.  I much prefer those long endurance swims!

Friday was a tempo bike: 10 minute endurance pace and 40 tempo.  Not bad.  The 3 mile shake out run was a really good one - nice and fast and effortless.  Just how I like it :)

Saturday.  OK.  Grr.  So, we were supposed to bike about 60 miles up at the Black Bear race site, which is essentially all hills.  Bill and I got up there around 1:30 (Amy had to work), and got on the road at 1:55.  We were biking about 3 miles when on a climb, I was really struggling.  So I tried to move to the small ring and realized the derailleur was not working: it was still in the big ring.  I kept trying, but it wasn't happening.  I thought maybe we could fix it, so at the top of a big hill (that I climbed in the big ring OMG hard) I stopped Bill and we tried to fix.  We were on the phone with Philly Bikesmith for awhile but ultimately could not fix it.  We were able to at least get the chain into the small ring (necessary for all those climbs) but agreed that we should probably try to find a bike shop to fix the problem before the race.  So that's what we did.  We turned around and banked an 11 mile run for the day. But Performance Bikes in Allentown helped out: they cleaned the derailleur but warned it should probably be replaced.  I was just thrilled that I was going to be able to use both my big and small ring at the race.

Sunday was the Black Bear Sprint Triathlon: 750 meter swim, 18 mile bike, 5k run.  I finished in 2:01:10 and was 3rd in my age group.  Thrilled!  The bike was the hardest bike course I have ever done (harder than Placid by far).  But it was a great race.  More details to come!  But here's a screenshot of my results.


This coming week should be good and ends with the French Creek century ride (100 miles).  That oughta be fun.

See you swoon,



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