IM Boise 70.3 Week 18 - Training Recap

Whew! What a long, emotionally and physically draining week this was. After returning home from our trip to Chicago to visit with my dad and family, the Kid immediately went off to his last Middle School overnight camp and then went straight to Spokane for a visit with his Grandma for the holiday weekend. Insert massive amount of free time for mom to get some serious training sessions in. Perfect timing as this was my last build week - and what a build it was!

Let's take a peek......(I'm tired just looking at this recap)


Monday - 4 Hour Chicago Brick (2.5 hour ride + 8 mile run)

Since my sister's graduation took place on Sunday, I decided to move my scheduled brick to Monday which would afford ample time at the gym. Still in IL and with Ben (my bike) nowhere in sight, I was forced to get my miles in via a spin bike and the dreadmill. Not.fun...but.done. I did learn something during that 4 hours of gym time though? I do NOT like spin class. Yep, got to the gym around 8am and made a bee line straight to the spin bike studio. Figured there was no way I was going to try and hash out 2.5 hours on a recumbent bike. About an hour and a half into my session the next spin class starting mulling in. I figured I might as well just stay on the bike and ride with these folks - see what spin is all about.

Um, yeah....no thanks.

He seriously looked like this - but with his eyes clamped shut the whole time!

The instructor was this big, bulky brooding guy, probably in his 50's who thought (and could have very well been) that he was a drill sergeant - the music started (at some insane decibel), the group got all fired up and then he started shouting in some lunatic language that I could not understand in any way shape or form. I followed along like a good soldier but honestly, I don't know if I was doing anything correctly. I spent most of the next hour trying to juggle the spinning/push ups combo that the Sergeant seemed to enjoy and keeping my heart rate down. Heck, I still had 8 miles to run!! Needless to say, although I do respond well to having a coach yell at me while in the pool, I am not a fan while on the bike. Think I'll try out another class here in town over the summer...maybe it was just a bad combo - the Sergeant and I.

Tuesday  - Rest Day (travel)

Most of this day was spent travelling, so although I really wanted to get a swim in when we got home, I ended up just taking a rest day. Probably for the best considering I had a long run planned the next day

Wednesday -  12 Mile Run

Ok, so I was tired. Super tired. Drained from 5 days of travelling and a very long day at work. Still, 12 miles on the schedule and I really needed to see how my hip was going to react at this distance. Funny to think how just 5 months ago I was "training" for 13.1 as my longest run ever, and now I can say, "12 miles? Eh, just a training run." Haha....not quite there yet but I was successful and so proud of myself when done. These 12 miles were a HUGE confidence booster! Started out at 7pm with tired legs, brain and all.............

   

Compression socks - I will never run a mile over 5 without them!

Boom badda Bing!

........and there it is! 12 miles in 2 hours and 4 minutes!! Had I kept up that last mile pace or even slowed down to 10 minutes, I would have PR'd my half marathon form December! So excited to pull out a run like this after being so mentally exhausted. Just the first of many confidence boosters I had this week.
                                                

Thursday - 1:20 Bike

Gorgeous day for a ride - just me and Ben out for some interval work along the river. Nice and windy so it kept me on my toes.

Friday - 3000 yd swim

Friday night date night with the pool. Still trying to play catch up with the sleep I forgoed (is that a word?) over the weekend, my swim was pushed to the evening. Usually I HATE swimming in the evenings as all of the gym rats have already had a chance to muck up the water with their sweat and urine (don't kid yourselves, there is plenty of pee in those pools!)...but given the holiday weekend I had the place to myself! Just a enjoyable session with an arm that is now at about 99%!

Saturday - Brunch + Farmer's Market + 53 Mile Ride

Love, love, loved my Saturday! P and I had a late, lazy morning - got up, made our way over to a new cafe for brunch (knowing that I had a long ride ahead of me, I piled up on delicious carbs and protein) and then visited the local farmer's market that just recently opened up for the season. Food, fresh produce, coffee, flowers, people...you name it. I love everything about the summer in Portland - especially the massive amount of local meats/produce/wine that is available. After picking up a few items (including the flowers below), and trying not to steal every single cutie of a dog that came up to say hi, we headed home.

Quick bike check and I was off for my 53 mile ride. With the next day's loooong brick ahead of me, I made sure to take it easy, finding a route that wasn't too hilly allowing for a nice high cadence and steady spin. 45 miles up and down Marine Dr (road that borders the Columbia River), the weather was perfect and fellow bikers super friendly. The ride went ok - nutrition down pat - it was that time of the month though (TMI?) so my back was aching like none other. Happy to know that there was a specific reason for it and not just my body rejecting the length of time in aero. :)

Bike route leads right passed Portland International Airport. Kind of cool riding with planes but 100 feet overhead.

Sunday - 51 Mile Bike + 3 min transition + 9 Mile Run (race day prep incl. tri kit)

So here it was. 18 weeks of training had brought me to my long anticipated race simulation. After coming directly off of a 50+ ride the day before, I was pretty nervous and already assuming that my legs weren't going to hold up. Even worse, I planned on riding up a 900+ ft "hill" to start off the course. This was to be a training session that simulated as close to race day as possible, so that included wearing my race kit, utilizing what nutrition/hydration I had planned as well as having P meet up with me to hand off the bike and dress rehearse a proper bike/run transition.

And away we go!.....and OM.G. here is that climb! 7 miles up and up and up.........bring on the hurt locker!

But all that pain was worth it..........

One of my favorite views in all of Oregon!

Small break at the top - just enough time to snap a selflie! :)

And back down I went......one would think that a solid downhill for 7 miles would be fun. Unfortunately the route is on a fairly busy road with lots of twists and turns so you really can't sit down in aero and just fly. That and still holding a few nerves from my bike crash, you better believe I was riding the brakes. Down the hill and out along the river's edge till it was time to head home for the run....I managed to maintain a 17 mph pace over the course of my 51 miles so I was fairly pleased.

Hand off the bike to P, take a quick potty break, slip on the shoes/visor, stash my water bottles and GU in some bushes near by (I HATE running with a belt, so the bushes acted as a makeshift aid station) and it was time for those awful 9 miles. It took me about 3 to find a good pace and convince myself that it was possible. Back and forth along my neighborhood roads with the wind and rain starting to pick up around mile 6 - I'm sure all of this made for a ridiculous scene for my neighbors. Here was this girl, in knee high socks and a one piece suit/visor getting soaked in the rain. Needless to say I didn't give one damn. I was bound to keep my pace and finish this thing. No better test for Boise.

Done. 60 miles in one day. 51 miles of biking + 3 minute transition + a 9 mile run in 4 hours and let's say 45 minutes. I have no idea as to whether or not this is a "good" or "bad" time. All I can tell you is that if I keep this same pace during Boise, make it out of the water around the 43/45 minute mark and add in two 5 minute transitions (I have no intention of trying to hurry my way through transition - besides, those dang compression socks take forever to get on!) that should put me somewhere around 6:43. 6 freaking hours and 43 minutes!

My say-it-out-loud goal right now is 7 hours. Anything better than that is just icing on the cake!

TOTAL:
Swim - 3000 yards
Bike - 160 miles
Run - 29 miles
Hour - 16 hours 14 minutes

Wow - by far my hardest training week and very heavy on the bike/run. Thankfully that was it for build and am now on to my two weeks of TAPER!!!!! Hours and miles are slowly decreasing which is much needed for these old bones. I had a massage yesterday and one more PT appointment scheduled for later on this week. Almost to my 10 day countdown - EEKK!!!

Anyone else in taper right now?

When is your next race?