Training Week in Review

Pushed some distances this week on the bike & swim. I'm tapering for my half marathon next week, so running was light. The Cartersville ride was tough. The Atlanta area got some much needed rain and brought back some winter weather. It was 41º F and belt like mid 30's with the wind. I was able to warm up a little bit after 5 miles, but my toes were cold the entire day. I forgot to bring my shoe covers. It was windy the entire time and that slowed the pace a bit. I wanted to get 60 miles in, but was beat up and didn't even attempt a brick.  I keep pushing myself Tuesday nights. I'm trying to keep up with the stronger/faster runners and although I can't run with them, I try to keep them in my sights and help motivate  and pace me. Each week I get a little faster. No spin class on Thursday so I got a 3000 meter swim in. That's the longest swim I've ever done. I broke it down to sets of 500 meters with about 1 minute rest in between each set. A great workout and one that I think will definitely prepare me for my first 70.3. I moved my 8 mile run on Saturday to Friday so I could do a group ride in Braselton and take Sunday off. Saturday's ride was a completely new route from last year's Jackson Brevet. It was a group, no drop ride. At least until about mile 20 when we hit a Sprint section followed by King of the Mountain section. I liked the route and there are definitely sections for going into the aero position. I'm still not quite comfortable, especially when the wind picked up. I did get in the aero position a couple times and felt really comfortable compared to riding on the hoods. The aero position allows me to relax my shoulders and take the weight off of my hands and arms. From this point forward, I'm going to use the aero bars as much as possible. The ride back was hard. There were some false flats and some rolling hills that really worked out the legs. I dropped to the smaller chainring and spun for a couple miles. I used a mix of Perpetuem & Sustained Energy. I felt really good throughout the entire ride. No leg cramps or GI issues. I also ran 20 minutes afterwards. I felt like I had taken too many fluids at the start of the run. Probably because I drank a bit of Perpetuem while putting the bike up and getting ready for the run. Not something I would normally do in a race. I also picked up a canister of EFS by 1st Endurance from the bike shop. The shop guys said it's more like Gatorade and not milk-like Perpetuem. I'll be trying EFS in some upcoming workouts. Looks like I won't be biking for 2 weeks due to my taper for the Publix GA Half Marathon. Weight is at 146 pounds this week.

Date	Day	Activity
03/06/11	Sunday	48 miles - Cartersville
03/07/11	Monday	2200 Meter Swim
03/08/11	Tuesday	7.3 mile run
03/09/11	Wednesday	1 Hour Spin Class 800 Meter Swim
03/10/11	Thursday	3000 Meter Swim - Endurance
03/11/11	Friday	8 mile run
03/12/11	Saturday	55 miles - Braselton