Friday, February 8, 2008

This blog brought to you by Alexander Keith's

A plug for my new favourite beer! This Alexander Keith's Red Amber Ale is delightful to say the least. And it was well deserved after another solid week of training.
As of tonight's workout, I have logged 11 hours with one day to go. This was on a plan of 11:45, so I could technically have an easy day tomorrow.
Thursday I got tied up at work at lunch so I missed my planned 45 minute run. However, I did slip out early at the end of the day and managed to do 40 miles on the bike at an average speed of just under 18 mph and a cadence of about 92 rpm. The ride went by quick as I was listening to some good tunes. A little "biker" mix I put together with a little bit of everything. My music tastes are eclectic to put it mildly, everything from classical, to country, to old rock, to punk and alternative, you name it, I have it on my iPod. Anyway the music made for a pleasurable ride and I managed to put in over 2 hours on the trainer. After the ride I changed into a dry shirt, laced up the old Saucony's and hit the treadmill for a brisk 4.3 mile run on the treadmill. Legs were just fine, and my adjustment from the bike to the run was smooth.
Today was a 2,900 metre swim at lunch time. Warm up was 1,000 metres easy swim, then the main set consisted of 5 x 150 metres with 30 seconds rest, followed by another 5 x 150 metres using the pull buoy. The cool down was 400 metres of easy swimming. Main focus of the swim today was body rotation and making sure I was swimming "belly to the wall". That is making sure my rotation was complete with my belly button facing the wall after each stroke. I like swimming with the pull buoy because it does simulate the way you feel when you wear your wet suit. The wet suit really increases your buoyancy and helps to keep your butt riding a little higher in the water.
Tonight I finished up with a recovery ride on the bike of 40 minutes. High cadence (96 rpm average), small chain ring work. Again, my legs felt strong and no ill effects from yesterday's workout.
Also this week I made the decision to drive to the race in Phoenix rather than fly. I have the time and I just don't feel comfortable shipping my bike and all the other associated paraphernalia. So driving it is! Surprisingly I feel a whole lot better now that I have made the decision and mapped my route. It should be an interesting ride and I love to drive so that won't be an issue. Plus I get to take all my stuff! When I first started doing triathlons I wondered what the heck everyone had in the various rubber maid containers and bags they would lug into transition. I had my bike, a wet suit, shoes and a few article of clothing in my back pack and that seemed to be all I needed. Well I soon found out that triathletes are the "gadget meisters" extraordinaire! Tire pumps, tools, tire guages, 14 tire tubes and a spare of everything else (including lungs and kidneys!). Soon I had my rubber maid with everything I needed times 2! It is like Linus' blanket, I just couldn't imagine having to take anything less than everything. So now I can stop fretting about that and make the final few arrangements for race day.
Have a great weekend!
(and go get some Amber Red Ale.....now!)

1 comment:

Love2Run said...

Would you believe...that's the same as what's in my fridge (along with a few Guinness for emergencies)!

You've had a great week and I don't know where you get your energy. Sometimes my training really wears me down and the goal seems far off. It's getting close though!