Swim.Bike.Run.Life: Week 12 Bites the Dust

Well, 12 weeks of ironman training has came and gone and it's now time to move onto the next training block....weeks 13 - 18: IM specific training! What does this mean? It means lots of long swims, bike rides, and runs. I just hope the summer heat is kind to me...

But, since I'm talking about training, here's how last week went.

Monday

* Run (am) ~ 13.2 miles (1:58) - Monday is usually my rest day, but I put off my long run on Sunday which meant I had to do it on Monday. I got up super early at 5am on the holiday and fit these miles in all before 7:30 in the morning :)

* Bike (am) ~ 37.1 miles (2:45) - Once again I usually don't bike on Mondays but I couldn't say no to a fun easy bike ride with Victoria and Rachel on Beach Drive. We meet up at 8am and I felt hungry after my run and basically did a reverse brick. I almost bailed on them, but I am glad I went.

Tues

Rest Day! I also had a chance to finally go to the grocery store and cook a decent meal for dinner.

Wednesday

* Run (am) attempt #1 - I got completely dressed in the morning to go run, but felt to hungry to actually run, so I ate something and laid back down. #fail

* Swim (pm) ~ 4000 yards (1:16) - I had a dentist apt so I fit this swim in before I went. This is the longest I have swam to date and it felt good. I did a 1000 warm up with a ladder: 100-200-300-400-500-500 and back down. It was also nice swimming during lunch time. Wish I could do this all the time. If only my pool was closer to my office.

* Run (pm) attempt #2 ~ 6.1 miles (:54) - Oh the run from hell! Why oh why didn't I do this in the morning? Attempted to do 4 x mile repeats at a 7:45 pace. I did a mile warm up at 8:20 then my first mile I hit at 7:54, but I was breathing hard and thought I might puke. I made it half way through my second mile repeat and started walking for about 2 minutes. I got mad at myself and starting running again, but I just couldn't run fast. For the rest of my run I went into survival mode and just ran what I could without dying. Better luck next time.

Thursday

*Bike (pm) ~ 22 miles (1:20) - Interval work with Jason at Haines Point before meeting up with the DC Tri for happy hour at Cantina Marina. I must admit though that happy hour was more fun than riding at Haines.

Friday

* Run (am) ~ 5 miles (:46) - Captiol Hill Repeats. I will never say these are fun, but I met up with my friend Meaghan. Having company and talking to entire run really makes the hill repeats not seem as bad as they really are.

* Swim (pm) ~ FAIL! Thunder storms, tornado warning, etc. My pool was closed :(

Saturday

* Run (am) ~ 10.6 (1:31) - I set no alarms and slept in until 8:30 or so. It was so nice! I managed to get out the door by 9am though. My first three miles sucked and my legs felt like rubber. I wanted to turn around and go back home, but I figured I already made the effort to run so there is no turning back ...I have to finish it. And to my surprise the run did get better and I enjoyed myself for the rest of what I had left of my 90 minute recovery week run. It also helped that it was cooler out and we had no humidity. No humidity actually meant that I could hold a 8:35 pace without feeling like it was the hardest thing in the world.

*Swim (pm) ~ 3200 yards (1:05) - Went to the pool with Jason and to our surprise the pool was uncrowded. yippie. I had the lane to myself for most of my swim. I did a 1000 warm up, then 5 x 200 and 10 x 100s with a 200 cool down. I really tried to swim faster on the 200s and 100s and know I need to do speed work in the pool more often if I actually want to swim faster.

Sunday

* Bike ~ 78 miles (5:14) - Met up with Karen, Rachel, and Jason in Potomac for a ride up to Karen's Aunt House. It was a hilly ride (5400 feet of climbing) and maybe I should have looked at the elevation beforehand, but never the less it was still a good ride. Karen's aunt was so sweet and had set up a rest stop for us with all kinds of food (bacon!!) It was great. I will tell you guys all about the ride tomorrow.