« Heart-Breaking News | Main | Sleepy Monday »
November 4, 2006
Good End to Good Week
I'm tired, no doubt, but stronger for sure.
This morning I was bound and determined to stay with the pack on the team ride. I got dropped pretty badly the last time we rode outside together. I didn't want a repeat of that. No, no! It was cold this morning (26 degrees when I left) so I basically went through my closet and just kept putting clothes on. I believe I had 4 layers on the top, 2 on the bottom, gloves, hat (and helmet of course) and small foot covers for my cycling shoes. I'm proud to say the only body part that got really cold was my feet for which I purchased full boot type deals that cover your whole cycling shoe and then go up over your ankle. Watch out! I probably weighed a good 5 pounds more than usual. Good strength training I suppose.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I did indeed stick with the group today. We rode just a hair under 50 miles in 2:35. I was greatly helped by the fact that we rode on some serious hills today. I can't say that I love hills but in terms of sticking with the pack, it's my savior. I can kill some of those bigger guys up the hills. Call me a mountain goat. It pays to weigh 110 pounds sometimes. Certainly doesn't pay when you're riding on the flats or downhill but up the hills? It's MONEY! :) Regardless, I survived the whole ride but I will admit, my quads felt like absolute trash when we were done. I definitely had to work hard this morning.
All during my ride I refused to think about the run that I also had to do this afternoon. I've done short bricks after Saturday team rides but never a full 2nd workout. Especially not a full 2nd workout that called for a 5 mile tempo run. Can I take that thing about getting a pro card back?! :)
After I got home and laid around some, did some odds and ends, cleaned the house, watched Penn State lose to Wisconsin, etc... I had to acknowledge the fact that it was getting both darker and colder and my run needed to get started. Luckily O was going to run with me too. That boy deserves a medal of some sort.
The workout consisted of a 5 mile tempo on the track. I wasn't thrilled about doing it on the track but I figured that would be best because (a) our track is lit until 11 pm and it was already getting dark by the time we left and (b) it would help for consistency's sake to make sure I didn't run 6 minutes on the first mile, 8 minutes on the 2nd, etc...
At some point I determined I would be thrilled to run 6:40 pace for this run. As we were jogging over to the track however I modified that to include anything up to 7 minute pace given how my quads had just taken quite a beating a mere 6 hours earlier. But to tell you the truth, I felt about 10,000 times better than I thought I would. It was weird. I guess the same muscles that I put a hurtin' on this morning and not the same muscles that are required to run 6:40 pace on a track for 5 miles. Thankful was quite the overwhelming feeling for sure.
I think we ended up running 32:53 (6:34 ave pace) with mile splits of 6:39, 6:35, 6:35, 6:31 and 6:33. I will take it! So 50 miles on the bike and 9 miles total running (including warmup and cooldown) for the day. A mere pittance compared to those covering 140.6 miles today at Ironman Florida. :)
Week summary:
Sunday - off
Monday - 3600 meter swim w/400,4x100,400,2x200,400,400 in am, 1:15 run in pm (10+ miles), 2x25 pushups, 2x100 crunchers
Tuesday - 21 mile easy ride outside, 1 hour pilates class
Wednesday - 3300 yd swim w/4x500 in am, 1:25 trainer ride w/5x6 minute intervals in zone 3 in pm, 35 min plyometric routine somewhere in between those workouts
Thursday - 8 mile run w/3x1600 @6:20 pace
Friday - 3200 yd swim w/4x500 (again), 30 minute plyometric workout in am, 56 min (7 mile) run in pm
Saturday - 48 mile ride in am, 9 mile run in pm w/5 mi tempo (32:53), core/feet exercises
Sunday - off! :)
93 miles cycling, 10,500 yds swimming, 34 miles running, 15 hours total training = a new high for me!
Posted by beth at November 4, 2006 8:26 PM