Hell Week

I’d been dreading last week’s training as it was the peak in terms of volume. I got through it, though, and even had some fun! Here’s what it looked it:

  • Tue:
    • am: 3000yd swim (w/ 10 x 100yd & 10 x 50yd fast intervals)
    • pm: 80min bike w/ last 30min fast + 10min run
  • Wed:
    • am: 7mi easy run
  • Thu:
    • am: 3000yd swim (w/ 4 x 400yd intervals)
    • pm: 80min easy bike
  • Fri:
    • am: 60min run w/ 3 x 5min fast
  • Sat:
    • 100mi bike + 10min run
  • Sun:
    • am: 18mi run (ended up being 16.5mi due to extra hilly terrain)
    • pm: 4000yd swim

A couple of new personal distance records were hit. One was my first 100 mile bike ride. The other was my first 2 mile swim (2.27, in fact).

On Sunday, I was going to run in the Komen 5K w/ Alida, but first had to knock out 15 miles for training. I decided to drive to the Komen start line and run from there out to and around Discovery Park (which I don’t recall ever having been to before), up to Ballard, over to Lake Union and back. Unfortunately, there were so many EPIC HILLS on my chosen route that half way through it was clear I’d never finish in time to start the 5K. I decided to cut out the Ballard/Lake Union sections, which left me with this 13.4mi route:

The whole peninsular section of the run was absolutely gorgeous. There’s a lighthouse at the western tip of the park, which I stopped to take a picture of, since I’d already decided to cut the route short and felt I could spare the couple minutes it would take to get my phone out its baggie and turn it on. I think the result really captures my reaction to what turned out to be over 3000 feet of climbing that day:

also, I'd been up since 4am, after riding my bike 100 miles the day before...

After all that, I had a blast running the 5K, a delicious lunch, some chill time in the park, and then a baby shower that had a massive buffet. I still have a really hard time at buffets, by which I mean I eat ALL THE FOOD. It’s a little better now with the veganism, as my options are more limited, but I was also pretty ravenous from all the training. So in went the vegetables and fruits and vegetables and fruits and so forth.

When I finally made it to the gym to try and swim over 2 miles for the first time ever, I was a bit concerned about the fullness of my belly. Apparently my metabolism was firing on all cylinders, though, as I managed to swim the distance without undo trauma (albeit slowly, and with a pee break half way through).

Huzzah! I win!

I celebrated by indulging in three PB & J & Potato Bread sandwiches, plus a couple Odwalla strawberry c-monsters to try to keep my immune system from buckling from the training overload. Later I also had a big bowl of cereal and a muffin.

I’m very noticeably sore today, which is saying a lot, as I’m pretty much *always* sore somewhere, and mostly ignore it. I’m also super tired, despite getting a “full” night’s sleep last night (full = 8 hours, but my body would prefer 10). That won’t be as much of a problem in the next couple weeks as my training volume tapers off in prep for the big day.

Three weeks from now I’ll be somewhere in Idaho, recovering and celebrating from having finished a full Ironman the day before. I’ll likely also be congratulating myself on raising a boatload of money to fight Alzheimer’s.  If you haven’t had a chance to contribute to my $2,000 goal, I’d sure appreciate it, and you can do so right here. Thanks!

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