STATS:
Swimming: 11,200yds in 5 sessions
Cycling: 196 mi in 4 sessions
Running: 34 mi in 6 sessions
Maintenance: 1 hr 5 mins
Total: 18.2 hrs
Ave Wgt: 162.6 lbs
Ave Sleep: 8.5 hrs
GOALS FOR LAST WEEK:
I just came off of Rhode Island 70.3 and then 3 weeks later am doing Steelhead 70.3 so this is a bit of unchartered territory for me. The week after Rhode Island was a recovery focus and these were my goals for last week:
* Get volume back up early in the week with low intensity. (success)
* Tuesday swim session: 20 X 100 on 1:20 (failed)
* Thursday bike session: 8 X Hill repeats + 30 mins steady (LT minus 10 bpm) (success)
* Saturday long ride: 80 easy (cut short)
* Sunday brick w/ 30 mins steady/tempo on the bike and 15 mins steady/tempo on the run (success)
* Core work every day. I've taken a little break from this and can tell that I'm getting sloppy. (missed a couple days)
* Volume: Swim 12K, Bike 230 mi, Run 34 mi (bike volume cut by 40 miles)
RECAP:
I recovered from Rhode Island 70.3 much better than I did from Eagleman 70.3. I felt pretty close to normal at the beginning of last week and felt like my legs were there and I could use them by Tuesday but contained myself. My swim workouts didn’t go well this week due to tight lats so I’ll need to work them out this week. My bike and run sessions went great this week. I’ve been playing around with cadence lately and have decided to spin a higher cadence at Steelhead to see if it will stop the hammies from cramping on the run. I decided to cut my Saturday long ride to 40 miles because I just didn’t feel like I needed 80 miles in 90+ degree weather. Overall the week went great and I’m feeling 100% healthy going into Steelhead this weekend!
KEY SESSIONS:
* Thursday: (Bike) 2 X 15 mins Steady (LT minus 10 bpm == 160 bpm) w/ 10 min recovery + 8 X Hill Repeats
- Ave 25.7 mph for 4 total laps of booty loop
* Thursday: (Run) 2 miles of fartlek off the bike
- 1 Mile + 4 X 400 at anywhere from 5:00 – 5:20 pace to get legs turning over
* Saturday: (Bike) 80 mile long ride
- Cut this short b/c I didn’t think it was necessary this week
* Sunday: (Bike) 30 mins Steady (LT minus 10 bpm == 160 bpm)
- Ave 25.2 mph for 4 total laps of booty loop
* Sunday: (Run) 15 mins Steady (LT minus 10 bpm == 170 bpm)
- Ave 5:24 pace for 3 continuous miles
Overall my keys sessions went well. I feel like my strength on the bike has faded so I’m spinning a much higher cadence to get the same results but that seems to be working in my favor because it’s not putting the additional strain on my hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. My run feels good to a point but I feel like I’ve lost a bit of top end speed. Anything much under 5:20 pace just didn’t feel very comfortable this week but I won’t need to run any faster than 5:40 pace this weekend so it doesn’t matter. My swim workouts were mediocre at best. I need to loosen things up before next Saturday.
MAINTENANCE:
My foot pain from a couple weeks ago seems to be completely gone. I actually felt very structurally sound all week aside from the tight lats while swimming.
GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK:
Next week is all about getting my muscles loose and keeping my body feeling tuned up and firing on all cylinders. I’ll get a massage on Tuesday and then do a bunch of self massage throughout the week along with stretching and my maintenance routine. I’ll have one short race pace brick workout on Wednesday and a couple of short swim workouts. We’ll be making most of the drive on Thursday and are set to arrive in Benton Harbor, MI on Friday. This race is a bit special as I’ll have most of my family staying with us and spectating.
* Loose muscles via massage and maintenance routine
* Wednesday Brick: 15 mins steady bike + 5 mins steady run
OTHER UPDATES AND THOUGHTS:
I’m looking forward to seeing my family next weekend at the race. I haven’t seen most of them since December so it will be nice to spend the weekend with them. My sister, Melissa, just had a baby boy recently so she won’t be making the trip but we’ll get to see her in December.
I’m not quite sure what to expect from the Steelhead race since I’ve been feeling like my fitness and strength have been slowly declining. The recovery between these three 70.3 races has made it tough to keep my volume and intensity up. I seemed to have recovered better from Rhode Island 70.3 than Eagleman 70.3 and I think it’s because I hit my nutrition and hydration during the Rhode Island race and pounded fluids directly afterwards. At Eagleman I didn’t pay attention to my fluid intake on the bike and ended up running on damaged (dehydrated) legs which I think led to a much longer recovery.
I’m looking forward to my 2 week mid-season break that will follow the Steelhead 70.3 this weekend. Jen and I recently decided to go on a cruise to celebrate our 9 year anniversary so we’ll be doing that the week of September 8th. Following the cruise I plan to hit the volume pretty big while keeping the intensity pretty low for about 4 solid weeks. During that time we’ve got a 3 day mountain trip scheduled for Labor Day weekend with three 100 mile days in a row featuring 19,000 ft of climbing each day. We call it the Loop of Truth.
GOALS FOR STEELHEAD 70.3:
* Top 6 Overall
* Hit my nutrition plan
* Be more conservative on the swim and bike
* Set a higher cadence on the bike
* Have a solid run
* 3:58 – 4:04 overall time depending on conditions
I’m going with a different race strategy for Steelhead than I have done for Eagleman and Rhode Island. At EM and RI my objective was to just get out there and race from start to finish. Go hard on the swim, don’t let anyone pass on the bike, and race the guys around me on the run even if I crash and burn. It seemed to work for those races but my run has certainly suffered and I’d like to see if I keep a more consistent effort throughout the day if I’ll be able to come off the bike with great legs and still in a position to run myself into the top 5. Lately I've been feeling like my top end power has been fading in all three sports so I think it would be best for me to stay within myself at this race instead of going with anyone that makes a move.