Countdown to B2B: 2 weeks (Week of October 8)

“Half” taper is literally what my training book called this week. The volume did cut back (about 3 hours less than last week), but with the same number of swims, bikes and runs, it doesn’t really feel like taper. I felt strong in the workouts, but I can’t say that I am starting to feel recovered quite yet.

Monday – OFF: Travel day for work. Started when left my house for the airport at 5:45 a.m. and ended after dinner at 9 p.m.

Tuesday – 6 mile run w/5x1k @ HMP: My plan doesn’t actually specify to back off the intensity of the workouts, but I knew my body needed to recover, so I opted for half marathon pace intervals vs. “real” speed work. It was raining and the area my hotel was in limited route options. I felt pretty sluggish and just kind of uncoordinated and awkward for almost the entire run, but it felt good to move before sitting in another full day of meetings.

Wednesday – Master’s Swim: 3300 + 7.25 mile run w/3 miles @ HMP: The bubble at the pool still isn’t up, so it was COLD getting in the water in 46* temps! Fortunately the pool temps are perfect. This was my last good, hard swim.

I was supposed to ride with Jenni after work, but when I went to pick up my bike from getting a tune-up, it wasn’t ready yet. (Note to self: check voicemail messages). I did some schedule flip-flopping in my head and decided to run when I got home so I could still fit everything in this week. It was a perfect, head clearing run that helped me make a tough decision I have been waffling over. Middle 3 miles: 7:41, 7:37, 7:39.

Thursday – Swim: 2400 yds + 24.1 mile bike, ~1:20, 18.2 mph: I went to the Y pool that is about 15 min from my house to join the Master’s group for the swim at 5:30 a.m., only to find out that the pool was closed because the chlorine levels were too high. FAIL. I contemplated going back to bed, but instead went to the pool that is 3 minutes from my house and did the workout on my own.  It was a big waste of 30 minutes driving around town, but it was probably better to reduce the yards and take it a little easier anyway.

I rode out by myself straight from work. My bike felt completely new with the tune-up and some other changes from the bike shop! It is READY for B2B! It was a pretty flat route and I had a solid pace, despite not pushing super hard. I had to cut it a little shorter than planned so I could get the dogs from doggie day care before they closed.

Friday – 8.2 mile run (8:18 min/mile) +  27.7 mile ride, ~1:30, 18.5 mph: Nothing spectacular about this run, except it is the last “long” one before B2B! I took Walter for the first 3 and my watch was acting kind of funny, so I don’t think the overall pace is quite right. Almost confident I was not running an 11:00 mile for the first 1/2 mile!

Rode out from work for 45 minutes before meeting Jenni at her work for the 2nd half of the ride. Almost immediately after I picked her up we had to start the first of two 16 min tempos. It was a relatively flat route and my legs felt like they were working, but I am pretty happy with the overall pace.

Saturday - Brick: 17.5 mile bike, ~1:00 + 4 mile run (7:32 min/mile): The best thing about “only” having an 1 1/2 of training on a Saturday is sleeping in and starting whenever I wanted. The weather was cool and part of the reason I waited until 1:00 to start the workout is to wait for the sun to come out and warm things up a bit. I used my aero bottle (and practiced putting Nuun in while I was riding), dressed similar to what I will next week and tried to treat this ride like another “dress rehearsal”. I felt pretty good on the flat trail and the tempo paced run felt like work, but not too terribly hard.

Sunday – 34.9 mile bike, ~1:58, 17.6 mph: The training plan actually called for a 2:45 bike…but it seemed really big to do a  45+ mile ride less than a week out from the race, so I decided to cut it back. I met up with a group of about 8 friends for their Sunday “recovery” ride. It is only recovery in the sense that they aren’t riding the 75+ miles that they do on Saturdays! We pushed pretty hard on a rolling route, but I felt strong and it was a good confidence booster.

• Swim = 5700 yds
  
• Bike = 98.3 miles
• Run = 25.45 miles
• Time = 10 hrs. 45 min.