Ironman Training: Week 23

First 9+ hour week since the beginning of February. Felt good all week, but the accumulated fatigue caught up to me by Sunday.

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4/15: 2000m of speed-work in the pool before work: 400m warm-up, 6x100, 10x60m, then 10x20 without breathing, then 2x100 cool-down. 10 miles on the bike after work, easy spinning.

4/16: 6.22 miles running. There were TONS of runners out today (the first day after the Boston bombing), and everyone had a good attitude. Suck it, terrorists. This was my first "long" run in a month, and my legs were a bit achy afterwards. I need to build up that running endurance again.

4/17: 2400m in the pool before work: 400m warmup, 1500 long (in 28:53), then 3x100 cool down. I pushed myself pretty hard on the 1500, and still finished over a minute slower than my 1500 last week when I was wearing a wetsuit. Boy does it make a difference.

Went to the park after work and banged out 20 miles on the bike. My heart rate stayed extremely low the whole time, a good sign. My knee was a bit wonky at the end though.

4/18: 16.39 miles biking. I did 4x mile intervals mixed in (with about 6 minutes of cool-down in between). Those speed mile times were 2:41, 2:33, 2:43, 2:41. It feels good to go fast. I also took a caffeine pill before this workout, and I think it made a big difference.

4/19: Rest day.

4/20: Long ride followed by a run. My original plan was to do about 25 miles biking, but I felt so good that I did 38 miles (and could have done more!). I made an adjustment to my left cleat before this ride, and I think it fixed my knee issue entirely: I had zero discomfort the entire ride. I took a caffeine pill at the beginning, and halfway through.

My phone died at the end of the bike, so I just ran in one direction for 16 minutes before turning around, and manually plotted it on the map afterwards. Ended up being 3.48 miles, at a pretty speedy pace too.

4/21: Another 6.22 miles running. I ignored my runkeeper pace and focused entirely on keeping my heart rate below 150. Nothing fancy, just putting some mileage back on my legs.

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 4200 meters (1 hour 50 minutes)

Bike: 84.27 miles (4 hours 46 minutes)

Run: 15.92 miles (2 hour 38 minutes)

Strength: 0 minutes

Total: 9 hours 14 minutes

Being able to bike after work has helped increase my total mileage: last week was the second-highest total miles I've done. Next week I have 100 miles planned, before tapering for the Monticello race on May 5. Hopefully the rain doesn't get in my way.