The third week of my training started with the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta on Monday, July 4th. My plan called for Monday to be a bike day so I'll have to adjust things a bit to complete the week successfully. Monday's race is a good example of how just over 40 minutes of training can take half a day to complete. I'm not looking forward to the weeks later on in my plan when I have to workout for 17+ hours not including any logistics.
Tuesday was a swim/run day so, trying to get back on track, that's what I did. I had to work during the day so I got a late start after waiting a while after eating dinner so I wouldn't risk a cramp when I went for a 1.7 mile swim. I swam out and back in the lake going out east then returning west. I had to keep looking back at the position of the sun before the turn around to make sure my return swim wouldn't be in the dark. I got back to shore right before dusk. I quickly got to my truck, rinsed off the mud with a jug of water, put on my heart monitor, sock, shoes, and headlamp. I ran 4.7 miles at an easy pace before heading home to spend a few minutes with Susan before going to bed. That was all I could muster.
Wednesday's ride was with riders from Southern Crescent. I rode the 8 miles to the meeting place at Epic Bikes to add a few miles. I felt good but not great. Some of the other A group riders were feeling off their usual form as well. I was hanging behind the front 6 riders when I lost a water bottle then got stuck at a traffic light. That's okay; I ultimately had a good 42 mile ride. I had planned to ride about 30 minutes longer but I cut it short since I'm riding the Hospitality Highway Century in Roswell on Sunday.
Thursday was another swim/run day. I swam my same route in the lake. This time I wore my long bloomer style swimsuit. The drag was clearly noticeable. I swam 1.5 miles in almost 1 hour and 15 minutes. That's significantly slower than my time when I wore my tri shorts. I wasn't pushing my pace so I'm happy with that.
Friday was supposed to be a bike day. I decided to change it to a long run day. I ran my 11 mile route near my house in 1:25:47. That's a 7:48 pace training run. It was not as hot as it has been since it rained but it was very humid. Saturday will be an off day since I'll be spending a long day in the saddle on Sunday. I told Chip that I was out for blood so he better watch out. He told me he wasn't going to give me any more Shot Bloks.
A breakdown of the week's training includes working out for 7 hours and 24 minutes. That's 5 hours less than my plan called for. This week I swam 3.2 miles, rode 42.12 miles, and ran 21.9 miles.
The century on Sunday should make up for some of my slacking off this week. I'll bring my new Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 camera so I should have a bunch of pictures from the ride.
Thanks for reading about my boring training.
