Triathlon Diary: 1/28 to 2/3

This week was kind of a normal training week, and in fact, I feel like I’m starting to settle into a rhythm.  That’s a good thing.

Swim

I swam twice this week.  At Tri Practice on Wednesday night I decided to keep it simple and just did a single set, 15 x 100 @ 1:30.  I swam the first eleven, and then my friend Ben came in and we talked for a little while, and to be honest, I was happy for the break.  I then pulled the last four reps before warming down with a single 50.  Then I went home and caught what I thought was a pretty good episode of Arrow.

I swam a little further on Sunday.  I wanted to go about 3000 yards, but in looking at my point totals for the week, I only had enough left for 2500 by the time I actually got in the water for my long swim.  So I muddled around with it for awhile, and eventually came up with this:

1. 3 x 100 @ 1:30 warm-up
2. Short Ladder Set, base 1:30/100 (or Cruise Interval +:15)

1. 50 @ :45
2. 100 @ 1:30
3. 200 @ 3:00
4. 300 @ 4:30
5. 200 @ 3:00
6. 100 @ 1:30
7. 50 @ :45

3. 200 Kick
4. 400 Pull
5. 100 Easy
6. 8 x 50 @ :50 tempo
7. 100 warm-down

Swimming Total: 2 x swim workouts (1550, 2500); 4050 total (40.5 pts)

Last thing I’ll say about this is that my Cruise Interval (CI) is around 1:15 per 100.  I haven’t set it lately or anything, but that pace has been a useful benchmark for me for the past few years.  I bring this up because while I’ve been feeling better in the water the last two weeks, I know I’m not quite where I want to be yet because I’m still working off a base of CI +:15, or 1:30 per 100.  As the season progresses, I’ll want to be at CI +:10, or base 1:25/100.

It was 24-degrees this morning. I
tried to dress warmly.

Bike

I wouldn’t say that the weather was nice this week, but it was nice enough that I was able to get back onto my bike and ride my regular commute a couple of times.  Well, three times, anyway.  We still had some snow flurries through the week, and although we had decent weather once--Wednesday, I think it was in the 50’s--in general, it’s been a frigid winter.

I wouldn’t call this a great week of riding.  The first day I rode was Tuesday, and it felt like I hadn’t ridden in a month.  Well, that’s pretty much the truth of it.  Wednesday was a little better, probably owing to the weather, and I don’t recall Friday being particularly miserable or anything.  Still, riding when it’s in the 20’s is one of life’s Big Sucks.

Riding Total: 3 x commute rides; 34.2 miles (34.2 pts)

Run

Last week was freezing cold, and so for Saturday’s Tri Practice, we did Fartlek intervals on the treadmills at the Y.  I then swam Sunday, and then, since it was supposed to sleet in the late afternoon on Monday, I decided to take my running gear to work and run at lunch.  Long story short, Monday’s run turned out to be a nice, easy four-miler, and I really enjoyed it--save for the fact that I was running straight into freezing rain for the last two miles.

Runs like that build character, I suppose.  Fortunately, my iPhone chose to play a selection of Tool and Metallica for that back half, so I was at least in the right headspace emotionally.

Anyway, Tri Practice this past Saturday was our first scheduled track workout, and I went to some trouble to try to plan it.  In the event, though, the day dawned a balmy 22-degrees, and by the time we left the Y, the temp was only up to 25.  So to keep it simple--and hopefully avoid injuries--I decided just to repeat the Fartlek workout we did the week prior on the treadmills, but this time with known distances instead of time intervals.

1. 1-mile warm-up
2. 5 x (1/2-mile @ 10k pace/ 1/4-mile easy)
3. 1/4-mile (or so) warm-down

I gotta say, I loved this set on the track.  I was a mid-distance swimmer back in the day, and perhaps for that reason, I found it very easy to dial in that 10k pace over those halves.  Speaking personally, my goal was to hold around an 8:00/mile pace for the intervals, and in the event, I was right at an even 7:50/mile for every single one.  That was good.  In retrospect, I probably should have down two sets of four halves instead of one set of five, but the rest of the Club wouldn’t have been able to do that--I don’t think--and in any event, I still feel like I’m running well, and that’s what matters.

Speaking of the rest of the Club, those guys rocked this set.  My wife Sally was literally a step behind me the entire way, and my friend Ben, who’s actually been doing triathlons longer than I have been, was also excellent.  In fact, even the ladies for whom running is a relatively new sport I thought did very well.  They looked fluid and consistent throughout the workout, and I’m excited now to see where we’re going to be by the time the meat of the season rolls around.

Running Total: 2 x running workouts; 8.75-miles total (35 pts)

Total Points for the Week: 109.7

Final Thoughts

This was the first time this season that I’ve bumped up against my upper limit on points.  I started using the point system after I got athletic-induced pneumonia a few years ago.  In retrospect, I realized that I’d gone from doing virtually nothing to doing super-hard-core workouts three weeks in a row, including heavy interval training, and the result was that I wound up in bed for two weeks.  Stupid move.  So now I track my training across all three disciplines using points, and I try to increase by no more than 10% or maybe 15% per week over whatever my highest point total was for the month prior.

1 pt = 100 yds swimming = 1-mile riding = ¼-mile running

I bring it up because I would have run further on Saturday morning and I would have swum further on Sunday if I’d had more points in my workout budget this week.  But body probably isn’t ready for that yet, and that was reflected in my upper limit for the week, which was 110 pts.  And this way, at least, I know that I am going to avoid over-training.