Things really caught up with me this week. Work stress in preparation for a big event this week and all of the running and cross training I have been doing led me to the point of sheer exhaustion by Friday. As icing on the cake, I came down with a small cold and just felt blah. I had 14 miles on schedule for Saturday, which I ended up cutting back to 8 miles. In hindsight I should have skipped it completely, but I am stubborn. So I ran 8 easy miles and then swam afterwards in hopes of trying to work out some soreness and general lethargy from my legs.
Onto the race. Marble Falls is a great race. This year they added a Sprint option, so Dan decided to race as well, which is always fun for me when we both race. My race was a 1,000m swim/23 mile bike/4.4 mile run.
1,000m swim/22:12: I am 99% sure this swim was long. I was swimming really strong, expecting to see a high 20 or low 21 on my watch when I exited the water, so was disappointed to see a 22 flash on my screen. But, looking at everyone else's swim times, they all appear to be slow, so I think the swim was long. I actually swam well in comparison to others in my age group, and even passed some of the men in the waves in front of mine. I'll take the small victories in the water where I can get them!
23 mile bike/1:18:49/17.5 mph: The bike course is hilly, but I've ridden that before so I knew that going into it. This course doesn't really play well in my favor as it's lots of rolling hills, and between my lack of time in the saddle lately and likely not using my gears most efficiently (indecision whether to be in my big or small chain ring) caused me to get passed a lot. Also, I stopped briefly as a rider who was a few cyclists in front of me flipped off his bike on Hwy 281 and his bike literally flew into the middle of the Highway. So, I stopped to check on him and make sure a volunteer was alerted and on their way. I do want to call out the a-holes who were in between me and this rider who JUST RODE RIGHT BY. I'm sorry, but this isn't Kona so is your race really that important that you can't stop or slow down when a fellow racer FLIPS off his bike? C'mon people, let's be decent human beings. Newsflash: if you are riding back where I was, then you're probably not in contention to win anyways. Anyway, I'm happy enough with my bike split.
4.4 mile run/30:19/6:53 pace: I knew the run would be where my race would start, and my goal was to keep my pace at sub-7. I was able to pass a lot of people on the run, without being passed and clocked in right at 30 minutes. Success. Week #3 of marathon training in the books.
Last Week:
Monday: 2300 yd swim/55 minutes core
Tuesday: (AM) Run Group: 9 miles.We did a hill rotation workout, alternating 10 minutes on three different sets of hills. (PM) 2500 yd swim
Wednesday: (AM) 12 miles @8:36 pace. (Lunch) 2100 yd swim
Thursday: (AM) Run Group: 11.52 miles. We did 20x200's with 200m recovery. Clocked them all around 5:25 pace. (PM) 14 mile bike ride; 500m open water swim
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| I was pretty excited about Thursday's workout :) |
Saturday: 8 mile run @ 8:35 pace; 1000m open water swim
Sunday: Marble Falls Triathlon: 1000m swim/23 mile bike/4.4 mile run
Total Running Miles= 49 miles
This week will be my biggest running mileage so far in the training cycle: 69 miles. I'm a little nervous as to how this week with go with a big work event on Thursday night that will land me home around midnight that evening. I don't tend to sleep much before big work events, so I fear another week of being really tired is in my cards. My focus this week will be getting in my runs and not worrying about cross training. I'll also adjust if need be; I've still got this cold lingering and there's no use running myself into the ground.
The plan says:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - 10 miles (speed)
Wednesday - 14 miles
Thursday - 11 miles (speed)
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 21 miles
Sunday - cycle/8 miles
That's a high mileage week coming up and you're doing more than just running. Dang!
ReplyDeleteHope your week goes well! That's a lot of miles!
ReplyDeleteI am also glad to hear your tri went so well!
3 words. You're a badass.
ReplyDelete20 - 200s?!?! Amazing. I have done one 200 in my entire life. Seriously. Isn't that ridiculous? I hope to do many more this Fall. I am looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteReally a great effort Erin down in Marble Falls. I love that pace (3 hour marathon) that you were able to hold coming off the bike.
ReplyDeleteYou are jumping into marathon training in great, great shape. Very excited for your training cycle - don't be too hard on yourself if work tires you out and the paces seem tough to hold in the heat this week.
You just came off a race and a little bit of a cold. In two weeks of run only focus - you will feel like Super Woman.
Go get it.