Turning Gray

7/6/20: After my failed attempt at a run on Sunday, my only option was to work it into my Monday schedule. Monday’s are typically reserved for either rest days or very light recovery work. Not this Monday. I did an easy fifty-minute spin on the bike, keeping y heart rate in Zone 1 the entire time.

Following the bike, I headed to the treadmill for an hour-and-twenty minute run. Missing Sunday gave me an inadvertent rest day, and it shows during the run. I was able to hit negative splits, and twenty-second pace improvement, and a Zone 2 heart rate throughout.

My legs were toast by the end, but it ended up being a great run.

7/5/20: Missing training frustrates me. It’s one of the reasons I try to train early in the morning; it gets it out of the way, and I’m happier and more productive for the rest of the day. When I don’t train early in the morning, I end up obsessing about it the remainder of the day—always looking for an opening in the day for me to break away and run and ride. As the hours of the day tick, the potential of missing training only adds to my frustration. After a big training day on Saturday—and 4th of July spent next door at our neighbors eating and drinking way too many delicious things—Sunday got off to a slow start. So slow that I didn’t get any of my planned training done. In this case, it meant missing a fifty-minute recovery ride and a long run.

It was 9:30 pm before I stepped on the treadmill to begin my long run. I had played tennis with the boy earlier in the day, so I was okay missing my recovery ride, but I wanted to get the run done. Ten minutes into the run, with dinner still sloshing around in my stomach, I called it quits. It’s always easy to tell when the quality isn’t going to be there, and what’s the sense of training if it’s not helping you?

7-4-20: Saturday’s are big days in my IM training. Today was no exception: four hours and eleven minutes on the bike trainer followed by forty minutes of running in the treadmill. I ended up logging seventy-seven miles on mostly flat terrain (on Zwift), and just over four miles of running. These are essentially my race pace numbers from past races. My legs hurt, but not so badly that I can’t drink beer and eat burgers! Happy July 4th! 🇺🇸🗽🚴‍♀️

7-3-20: In the pool for my Friday swim. At the club we’ve gone to a reservation system for most things, including the pool. At the top of the hour a new group is allowed in, and fifty minutes later we are out. This allows the staff ten minutes to clean before the next group enters.

Although I thought I had made a reservation, it turned out that I didn’t. Luckily for me there was a lane open in the recreational pool, which is considerably warmer. Today’s training was basically blocks of 200 yards of varying intensity. I was worried that I’d overheat (which I almost did), but what was most interesting was that my first six hundred yards was close to the fastest I’ve ever swam. During a rest break the club manager walked by and I asked if there was something about the warm pool that made it faster. She told me that because it was warmer and shallower my body was more relaxed which caused my form to be better. “I can see it in your stroke, your more relaxed and your pull is longer and your kicks are easier.” I may never understand swimming.

7-2/20: This week marks 18 weeks until Ironman Arizona. Today was a bike and run morning. 1.5 hours on the bike and 1 hour on the treadmill. The bike was a z1 ride, and the run was a z2 Tempo Run–three six-minute blocks at my z2 heart rate. My Heart Rate Monitor gave out halfway through my run. Either that or I kept my heart rate at 72 BMP while running an 8:30/mile.

Despite my issues with my HRM, it was the best run I’ve had in a very long time. Maybe ever. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was my hydration–I finished both of my bottles while I was on the bike, something I rarely do–or maybe it was my AC/DC playlist. Who knows? Whatever the reason, it was just a very enjoyable run.