Ok, it’s been a while since I updated things here. 8 weeks to be precise. Some weeks have been good, some mediocre, and some great! I find myself very pumped/stoked/(whatever the kids say nowadays) lately. Time to put that energy into a keyboard…
A few things have changed since two months ago. I’ve joined a team and now have a coach and training partners! All have been great. It’s been the little extra kick I needed! And the results have followed. I’ve been setting PRs on the bike and run lately during training. My swimming is so far beyond previous results that PRs are kind of irrelevant at this point.
It’s now only 11 weeks until IM Boulder and 2 weeks to 70.3 Galveston. Just writing that makes me think forward to how much more improvement there is to come… I’ve ridden the IMB course several times and I’m excited for race day. It looks to be a really fast course (for Boulder). I can’t wait for Galveston! It’s been 21 weeks of training without any true race tests. The competitive side of me is itching for a measuring stick. But I got a little bit of that measuring stick today.
I had a big training day yesterday. 56ish miles on the bike at IM race pace, then a 10k at faster than race pace (I think; stay tuned). But today, I got talked into an actual race. Four mile run. Not your typical distance, but there were beer and burritos at the finish line, so I was obviously game. If you’ve read this far, you probably already know my weaknesses (e.g. beer, burritos).
I had a great run last week at about 8:30 per mile fro 5+ miles. So I toed the line in the 8-minute per mile corral. There were only about 30 people in front of me, so I felt like I was suffering from a bad case of optimism. I’m pretty sure my body fat percentage was the sum total of everyone in front of me.
I looked at my watch after the first quarter mile and my average pace was 7:30. Pump the brakes time. Not sustainable. I settled in and hit 8:00 for the first mile. Still way faster than I typically run. But the first rule of run club is that you must negative split run club.
Second mile 7:47. OK. A bit ambitious, perhaps. How am I going to beat that twice?? But I could still breathe easily. I’ve been running by feel for the last several months. I used to run by heart rate, but I find feel (RPE essentially) to be great now that I have enough experience to know what various efforts feel like.
Third mile. Oh shit. At 2.5 miles I got a serious knot in my right calf. Not a cramp per se, just a knot. Kinda weird. Let’s figure this out. What if I switch to a heel-ish strike and limp a bit? Yep, that works. Must beat 7:47. A slight downhill got me to 7:44. Knot mostly worked out and I’m back to a balanced stride, though a bit more heel-strike than normal.
Fourth mile. I think a lot of runners were trained/pacing for a 5k (3.1 miles). I kept my pace and people kept falling back to me. When I passed one person, I looked to the next person in front of me. That’s when my pace started to pick up a bit. Calf knot be damned. I knew where the finish line was and I gradually tightened the screw as I approached it. Slight increase in speed. Maintain. OK, slight increase. Maintain. Ramp up a bit. Hold on. One last increase. I kept passing the few people in front of me. Notice I said people; I ended up getting beat by one dog. But they don’t drug test dogs and I have my suspicions… Just sayin’.
Final result: 5k PR and 24th of 370. That’s the 93rd percentile for the mathletes out there. One of my best results in any race ever!
That was a great capstone for my training SO FAR! Can’t wait until Galveston to put all three disciplines together. Then it’s another 9 weeks to Boulder. Anticipation……….(need more ellipses)……….
Week 14: 4500yd/1h25m swimming; 43.4mi/2h25m cycling; 5.3mi/0h46m running; 2700 calories
Week 15: 2000yd/0h38m swimming; 118mi/6h55m cycling; 19.1mi/2h58m running; 5600 calories
Week 16: 5400yd/1h43m swimming; 86.3mi/5h00m cycling; 11.5mi/1h50m running; 4900 calories
Week 17: 8500yd/2h43m swimming; 88.9mi/5h15m cycling; 12.0mi/1h53m running; 5200 calories
Week 18: 2100yd/0h42m swimming; 82.9mi/4h28m cycling; 16.9mi/2h40m running; 4500 calories
Week 19: 3000yd/0h55m swimming; 128mi/7h29m cycling; 12.0mi/1h49m running; 5700 calories
Week 20: 6500yd/2h04m swimming; 73.2mi/3h59m cycling; 18.8mi/2h53m running; 5500 calories
Week 21: 7300yd/2h19m swimming; 97.7mi/5h15m cycling; 15.9mi/2h14m running; 6000 calories
Cumulative: 92,450yd/36h23m swimming; 1693.7mi/105h00m cycling; 275.8mi/43h43m running; 103,700 calories
WOW, that’s a lot.