Sorry for the long break in posts. The Tour de France captured my attention on weeknights from whenever I get home to when I go to bed. So this doesn't leave much time for posting. I promise my training schedule hasn't been so distracted. This week has been HUGE for cycling, with all of the doping allegations and Contador taking the yellow jersey, there is bound to be tons of discussion. I have some personal opinions on the whole doping issue, and some other views on this years tour as a whole. I'll probably post about those another time but for the time being we'll stay on topic.
Monday:
In the morning I took the chance to get into the gym. Since it was so long ago, I really don't remember what I did, just that it was a good workout. I switched up a few of the workouts but kept the idea the same. Monday night I wanted to get a good bike workout in. The PLT time trial is tomorrow so I figured I'd use the week as a chance for some good cycling workouts. I showed up at West Creek with my sweet new uniform and heart rate monitor. I was ready to go. I felt great. Well... I did, my legs didn't. First, the wheel size setting on my computer was wrong so it said I was going slower than I was, secondly my legs were still a little sore from the race on Sunday. I think, the computer having the wrong wheel size setting (I didn't know it was wrong at the time) made me push a little bit harder which I think could have led me to wearing out my legs before the end of the night. Even with all of the struggles involved, I was still able to fit in a 1:45 ride and according to the computer I had done 30 miles. Since it was off it was probably more on the 35-37 range.
Tuesday:
Ahhh, good ol' Tuesday night swim workouts. This was a solid 1:15 in the pool with some decent sets. I was pushing it and felt great. I'm feeling stronger in the water day by day. I now feel like the only thing holding me back is my muscle endurance. I'm comfortable with breathing in the water and my short distance speed is OK too. Once my muscle endurance gets a little better I think my long distance pace will speed up. Anyways, here's the workout...
3x200 Warmup
5x100 On the 1:35 at a 1:30 pace
100 50 kick/50 3 count switch
6x75 On the 1:10 at a 1:00 pace
100 50 kick/50 3 count switch
7x50 On the 45 at a 40 pace
100 Slow cool down
This came out to about 2200 yards plus or minus a few slow 50's in between sets.
Wednesday
Oh jeez. I got my ass handed to me on Wednesday. My computer on my tri bike was just plane not working. I lost the magnet. I have no clue where it is and hadn't figured out a solution by this point. We did our intervals on different times. It was usually 4 min on, 4 min off. We did a few of these (5 or 6), then we did sprints. The sprints were shorter, maybe 15-20 seconds. The first few were OK. It got incredibly tough to find any leg strength after 3 or 4. After the sprints we did more timed intervals. I just couldn't keep up for the entire interval. I think I was starting way too fast, mainly because I would usually keep up or lead for the first minute or two, but if we hit a hill, or even if we didn't I would start to fall back. It was an incredible workout for me, even more humbling because I really was struggling. We did our normal 5 mile run afterwards. It was tough, but it certainly felt better than the cycling. We did 5 miles in just about 35 minutes, so needless to say, my legs were fried at the end. Oh yeahhhh, did I mention I went to the gym Wednesday morning too?? I had forgotten about it by the time I was falling asleep on Wednesday night.
Thursday
Masters workout. Our coach didn't show up so we put together our own workout. I really don't remember what we did totally. But I do remember we did 5 100's on an interval (1:35 for me), 5 100's, with 50 drill of choice, 25 easy and 25 spring, and 5 50's sprint, 1 easy 100 and 1 fast 100. The first set still escapes me but by the end of the night I was at roughly 2600 yards if you include the warm up (3x200 as usual). I fell asleep on the couch Thursday night. Not good.
Friday
I got up early for a quick ride. I was still pretty sore from swimming the previous night so it was a painful ride. I got in about 21 miles, maybe a little more. My legs hurt, and so did the rest of my body. I'm glad I went though. I needed to get my legs going so they'd be ready for Sunday. SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!! Only on pay per view ladies and gents.
Saturday
Rest. I rode the tri bike around the neighborhood for 30 minutes or so just to make sure everything was working. I couldn't get the magnet and monitor to talk to each other on my HED3 front wheel. I fiddled with it for the longest time. After an hour or two I figured just take it to Ben and have him fix it. It'll probably take him 3 seconds. Soooo, tomorrow I'll be running a HED3 rear and Shimano 550 front. I tried it out for awhile and it felt smooth. The bike handled better than usual. I'm guessing the spoked rim on the front makes it a little less obtrusive to wind and it's not as stiff. Who knows, maybe this is the magic formula. The only problem is that the HED3 is a tubular and the Shimano is a clincher, so there may be some pressure differences, but it'll due for tomorrow.
Tomorrow
Should be fun, nothing serious. I'm just going to ride as hard as I can. We'll see how it turns out. I'll probably be middle of the pack. Top 5 would be nice but I'm not holding my breath. Since there's no swim or run involved, it's everyone else's advantage. Wish me luck! Ahh, I posted a picture of the bike with it's setup for tomorrow. Sorta looks cool too I think. OOOOOKKKK, I guess I won't since I can't find my camera. No worries, have a good night.
Listening to: Blank and Jones set
Feeling: Ties
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