Training Week in Review

This was a high volume week. I got a lot of miles in. This is the first time I've ran 30 miles in 1 week. I was also able to get in 4 days of swimming. There are times when my swim feels like it's getting stronger and others when it feels quite the opposite. Monday's swim felt great. I felt more powerful and was leading my lane once we got done with kick drills. It was fast paced and I was keeping up with the pace. It was a great day. Wednesday I did my own endurance swim and focused on technique. Friday's endurance swim is when I started feeling slow. I think it had to do with the fact that the other swimmers were strong swimmers, really strong. Coach said my technique looked good and suggested some interval workouts to improve my speed. Saturday's open water swim didn't start well. There was no warmup and the pace took off quickly, I tried to keep up, but the pace was too fast and I started getting that panic feeling. I actually had to stop, regain my composure, get back into my head and focus on technique and my swim and not everyone else's. After that, it got much better. I still couldn't keep up, but by the end I was catching up and had closed the gap.

My running felt really strong this week. I took it easy early in the week because temp & humidity was so high. It improved greatly by the weekend. Saturday's 14 mile run felt great in cooler weather. I didn't push the pace. I ran at a comfortable pace and was able to hold a conversation. I'm feeling more confident on the run. I don't know that I'm improving on speed, but I can do the distance without too much fatigue.

Skipped the organized group ride and opted for a smaller group. Rode comfortably for the 1st 15 miles and then picked up the pace. I lost a water bottle on a bump and used that opportunity to work in some intervals to catch up with group. I got 60 miles in, I should've gotten 70-75, but I really worked on maintaining a fast speed on the last half. I was concerned about my legs getting tired and what that would do to my brick, so I maintained a good solid pace using high cadence so that I wouldn't burn out my legs for the run. The run felt a little sluggish as expected, but within a 1/4 mile my legs were starting to get comfortable. My pace picked up and I think I was averaging about 8:15 8:20 pace. When I finished my run, I was not spent, I could've run a lot longer. I felt I could run a half marathon.

Next week is a recovery week and based on this last week, I'm going to need it. I'm feeling a little drained today and not looking forward to swimming.  It'll be difficult to cut back so much after feeling so good about this past week.

Date	Day	Activity
07/11/11	Monday	Swim - 2500 Yards
07/12/11	Tuesday	Run - 7 Miles
07/13/11	Wednesday	Strength Training Swim - 1600 Meters Spin - 1 Hour
07/14/11	Thursday	Run - 7 Miles
07/15/11	Friday	Swim- 1800
07/16/11	Saturday	Run - 14 Miles Swim - 2200 Meters
07/17/11	Sunday	Bike - 61 Miles Run - 4 Miles