Pleasantly Surprised...
Another solid week of base training is in the piggy bank. Overall it was a pretty calm and boring week with a few small training surprises along the way.
For starters, in the pool last week, I had a main set of descending 4x200 (where you get faster each time). Clipped the first two off at 4:12 and 4:06. When the third one clocked in at 3:53, I was convinced I had blown it. There was no way I could break 3:50. While swimming that final set I thought a lot about what Liz said on confidence and the squirrel on the edge of the branch ready to fearlessly jump into traffic for that nut. I focused on positive thoughts, being strong off the wall, really driving my hips and reaching to pull my body through the water. Needless to say, I was BEYOND baffled when I resurfaced and saw a 3:37 on my watch. That's a difference of 35 seconds between my first and fourth set. A difference of a 2:05 pace versus a 1:48 pace and over the course of 2.4 miles that's the difference of 12-14 minutes in the water. Granted, I'm not looking to pull that kind of crazy number on race day...I imagine I'll be around an hour+thirty (give or take 5 minutes) during Ironman. But damn wouldn't a sub-1:20 swim be sweet?! Dream on, turtle girl...
Brilliant workout numero deux came on Wednesday on the track. Yes. I said it. On.The.Track. It was beautiful. I was there. And I was running brilliantly. Which is a rarity in and of itself. Every once in a while I'm bound to have a fantastical day while running. Accidents happen, right? At any rate, after a long warm up, I had 3x1600 descending. Another bloody set of getting faster as you go along. If I could do it on the water, why couldn't I do it on land? Here's how it went down:
1600 #1 - La la la la...running along singing show tunes in my head (yes, you read that right. Show tunes. Hairspray to be exact)...this isn't too bad...except for the fact I'm running circles 'round and 'round the track. At the end, I see a 12:47 which is definitely slower than my 10k pace...clearly wasn't paying attention and ran a bit too conservatively...okay...way too conservatively (should've been around 12 but my Garmin doesn't get a signal on the track--oops!).
1600 #2 - Put forth a solidly good effort. I'm feeling pretty swift and relatively comfortable...like I could hold the pace for 5k or so. Coming around the corner I hit the split and see 10:37. That's more like it.
...except for the fact that I know the last 1600 is supposed to be 10 sec. faster than my 5k pace (which based on my PR would put me at about a 9:04, but that was last year when I was in prime physical condition...though If I had to guess, my current 5k time would be somewhere in the 10:00 pace range).
1600 #3 - I start out running comfortably fast thinking it wasn't too bad, by the time I hit a half mile I realized that I was sort of on pace to hit the same time as set #2, so I knew I had to kick it up a notch and a half. My brain and my legs had a conversation that sort of went like this:
Brain: Go!Go!Go!Go!Go!
Legs: Are you crazy!? Any faster and your lung might explode.
Brain: I don't give a sh*t, suck it up and run, Princess.
Legs: Buuuut...
Brain: Do you really think you'll be equipped to handle an Ironman if you can't crank out a decent speed session? DO YOU?! Now go faster! Faster! FASTER!!!!!!!!
Legs: ohmygawd I'm never going to be able to hang onto this...thisiswaytoofastforme...
I managed to crack a whip on my own ass. And when I came around the final curve to finish it off I hit the split and saw 9:32. Damn. Better than I anticipated. It's been a while since I've run a sub-10 mile...not to mention doing it at the end of a speed session. The good news is, I know I've got a sub-9:00 mile in me, and the day where I report a mile that starts with the number 8, it'll be time to celebrate. The bad news is, it hurt. A lot. But I guess the truth hurts. And the truth is...I can go faster.
Week 17 (Week 3 of IMAZ training)
Swim - 4400 yards
Bike Trainer - 3h43m (talk about mind-numbing!)
Run - 14 miles
Strength - 33m
Time - 9:16
For starters, in the pool last week, I had a main set of descending 4x200 (where you get faster each time). Clipped the first two off at 4:12 and 4:06. When the third one clocked in at 3:53, I was convinced I had blown it. There was no way I could break 3:50. While swimming that final set I thought a lot about what Liz said on confidence and the squirrel on the edge of the branch ready to fearlessly jump into traffic for that nut. I focused on positive thoughts, being strong off the wall, really driving my hips and reaching to pull my body through the water. Needless to say, I was BEYOND baffled when I resurfaced and saw a 3:37 on my watch. That's a difference of 35 seconds between my first and fourth set. A difference of a 2:05 pace versus a 1:48 pace and over the course of 2.4 miles that's the difference of 12-14 minutes in the water. Granted, I'm not looking to pull that kind of crazy number on race day...I imagine I'll be around an hour+thirty (give or take 5 minutes) during Ironman. But damn wouldn't a sub-1:20 swim be sweet?! Dream on, turtle girl...
Brilliant workout numero deux came on Wednesday on the track. Yes. I said it. On.The.Track. It was beautiful. I was there. And I was running brilliantly. Which is a rarity in and of itself. Every once in a while I'm bound to have a fantastical day while running. Accidents happen, right? At any rate, after a long warm up, I had 3x1600 descending. Another bloody set of getting faster as you go along. If I could do it on the water, why couldn't I do it on land? Here's how it went down:
1600 #1 - La la la la...running along singing show tunes in my head (yes, you read that right. Show tunes. Hairspray to be exact)...this isn't too bad...except for the fact I'm running circles 'round and 'round the track. At the end, I see a 12:47 which is definitely slower than my 10k pace...clearly wasn't paying attention and ran a bit too conservatively...okay...way too conservatively (should've been around 12 but my Garmin doesn't get a signal on the track--oops!).
1600 #2 - Put forth a solidly good effort. I'm feeling pretty swift and relatively comfortable...like I could hold the pace for 5k or so. Coming around the corner I hit the split and see 10:37. That's more like it.
...except for the fact that I know the last 1600 is supposed to be 10 sec. faster than my 5k pace (which based on my PR would put me at about a 9:04, but that was last year when I was in prime physical condition...though If I had to guess, my current 5k time would be somewhere in the 10:00 pace range).
1600 #3 - I start out running comfortably fast thinking it wasn't too bad, by the time I hit a half mile I realized that I was sort of on pace to hit the same time as set #2, so I knew I had to kick it up a notch and a half. My brain and my legs had a conversation that sort of went like this:
Brain: Go!Go!Go!Go!Go!
Legs: Are you crazy!? Any faster and your lung might explode.
Brain: I don't give a sh*t, suck it up and run, Princess.
Legs: Buuuut...
Brain: Do you really think you'll be equipped to handle an Ironman if you can't crank out a decent speed session? DO YOU?! Now go faster! Faster! FASTER!!!!!!!!
Legs: ohmygawd I'm never going to be able to hang onto this...thisiswaytoofastforme...
I managed to crack a whip on my own ass. And when I came around the final curve to finish it off I hit the split and saw 9:32. Damn. Better than I anticipated. It's been a while since I've run a sub-10 mile...not to mention doing it at the end of a speed session. The good news is, I know I've got a sub-9:00 mile in me, and the day where I report a mile that starts with the number 8, it'll be time to celebrate. The bad news is, it hurt. A lot. But I guess the truth hurts. And the truth is...I can go faster.
Week 17 (Week 3 of IMAZ training)
Swim - 4400 yards
Bike Trainer - 3h43m (talk about mind-numbing!)
Run - 14 miles
Strength - 33m
Time - 9:16
Labels: training totals
posted by Iron Jayhawk at 8:24 AM
5 Camper Comments:
Week 17 of what? LOL!
Great job on the workouts!!! I'm so glad you are in the training groove now and I'm not alone out there!
Week 17 of the year. :P At the top of my workout log, that's what it says in big fat type...
I'm glad to be training, too. Misery loves company afterall!
That run sounds crazy! Way to kick it ou!
I guess they count that Jan 1-3 as a whole week?
i love it when a plan comes togehter. keep at it.
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