T97 - Easing Back In - Bike, Swim

Gainesville

With the long swim coming up Monday, I wanted to get a training day in before jumping right back in to Iron-distance training days. The Recovery week has a short bike and short swim scheduled for one of the days, so that looked like the perfect day to transition from rest into the final phase of real training. I felt better Sunday. Not 100 percent, but a lot better. And the weather has cooled off. A lot. So I actually had to bust out the long spandex.

Bike - 90 minutes

2 Lipodrene
As I said before, it was fucking cold Sunday. Maybe 70 degrees, which meant this was the first time I'd have to train in cold all cycle. And, after seeing the brutality of the wind on the PCB course, I decided that my rides from here on out need to be windy. I fucking hate wind, but what am I accomplishing by avoiding it during training? So I opted to head down 441 to Cafe Risque, my favorite 90-minute ride.

I knew I was in for some shit when I found myself doing a blissful 24 through Alligator Alley, and not really dropping below 22 the whole ride down to the Cafe. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed the tailwind but at the same time, I knew that trip back was going to suck. Made it to the parking lot (pulled in the same time as one of the dancers. I hope she's into spandex) at 41:20, and figured if I made it back in under 90 minutes, good for me for going so fast.

Yeah, notsomuch.

The wind on the way back was brutal, and my speedometer, once again, decided to be sporadic. Like I would be going 17, then 12, then 7, then 19. It felt like 19 in most of those spots, but I'm starting to get massively frustrated at my computer doing this shit after every time I clean the bike (which I did before the PCB ride) and this time it didn't help my speed at all. The wind was tough, and cold, and I fought it with little effort. I've realized this is going to have to be my strategy on the Ironman course, as I can't just fight it hard the whole time. If it slows my speed, it slows my speed, but I need to finish and killing my legs to maintain 18 in a headwind is not going to help that.

I made it back in 1:33, taking me almost 7 minutes longer to get back than get down. My average speed ended up at 16.8, not exactly blazing. Yeah, the wind kicks my ass. But this is why I'm training in it. Hopefully I can improve it a little before the race. But thus far avoiding wind I think has been my major misstep in training.

Swim - 4x300 (300 easy, 300 kick, 300 easy, 300 kick)

1 Lipodrene
I wasn't feeling super energetic after the bike, but I had planned to separate the workouts anyway. I ended up passing out for about half an hour, then headed out to GHFC at about 7:30. The swim felt good, and I think mentally I'll be able to do the 2x2000. My muscles felt ok, but the long kick sessions were not fun. I think I even said out loud at one point "This is fucking ridiculous!" 12 laps of kick?! I mean, ok, I did it and it's a good training value, but while my swim times have gotten better, my kickboard times have not and as such I spent 2/3 of the time on that. But I felt ok in the pool, and when I got out. Agian, didn't crush the swim but it was good for a first day back.

All in all, a decent first day back, but I need to get back into that ultra-distance mode. Monday's swim will be telling, as will the Century ride Saturday. I have a lot of dual workout days this week as well, which will be tough to fit in given my scheudle. Seriously, no idea how anyone with a real life does this stuff.