Week 6 to Ironman Canada

Here was my training plan from my awesome coach, Daryl, this week (plus what I actually did):

Monday, February 4th – REST – 

(Since I did my Monday swim on Sunday (see week 5) — I had myself a rest day!! YAY!!  A great night to spend with the family!)

Tuesday, February 5th – BIKE/RUN –

1:00:00 Big Gear Bike:  Warm Up with 10 minutes Easy cycling, 5min steady, 5min easy. (5x) 4 min Big Gear (70-80 rpm), Mod-hard effort on 2 min Recovery 10 min Easy.

30:00 Steady Hill Sprint Run:  Steady effort run with 3-4x10sec hill sprints, walk back recoveries. Focus on quick hands an feet, lifting the knees aggressively, not pushing off.

(Great set pushing big gear around 81 RPMs – could have gone to harder gear.  Quick easy run off bike — treadmill.  After 15 min, did 4 x 10 sec hill sprints at 8% incline (about a 7:10 pace). 3.57 miles for an average pace of 8:24)

Wednesday, February 6th – SWIM –

CSS 12 x 100s:  4×100 WU, 12×100 at CSS pace with 10sec recovery, 4×100 CD.

Nothing better than wearing comfy sweats post swim!

(2000 yards — booyah!  Was aiming for 45 minutes, but it took me 49 minutes.  My sets for each 100 were around 2:15-2:20.  Would like to get this down.) 

Thursday, February 7th – BIKE/RUN –

1:00:00 Bike Ride: 10min WU, 3×12/3 minutes continuous as 12 minutes Steady then 3 minutes Mod-hard, 5min easy spin.

30:00 Steady Transition Run: Run off the bike for 30 minutes Easy and relaxed.

(Great bike workout.  Hard!  I was thoroughly soaked. Quick run off bike – felt good! 3.71 miles for an average pace of 8:05.  A few planks afterwards for dessert!)

Friday, February 8th – LONG RUN –

Progress to Steady 90:00 run:  Based on duration, split the run into thirds: ***Easy effort for first third ***Steady effort second third ***Hold your Steady pace in final third, effort may increase a bit Always start at an effort that leaves you room to finish strong. This is an endurance session, keep the effort comfortably aerobic at all times. Practicing Run:Walk Technique is highly recommended.

 

Sporting my F3 tech shirt!  Get one here!

 

 

Ran in my new Brooks PureFlows.  Love them!! 

(The best thing about this run was the location!  I love running in Bellingham.  I felt good starting off, but then lost my mojo as I was just pooped — nonetheless, I pushed through.  Two reasons for feeling poopy – not enough pre-run fuel and the brick from yesterday was late at night, so not much rest in between workouts.  Here were my splits:: 8:36, 8:16, 8:13, 8:20, 8:24, 8:11, 8:09, 8:46, 8:14, 8:15, 8:06 — Ended up just a titch long with 1:31:29 – 11.00 miles total for an average pace of 8:19)

Saturday, February 9th – SWIM – WORK!

4×300 on 20s rest. Easy, steady, tempo, easy.

(BOO!! First missed workout!!  I was so looking forward to this swim too!  I got called into work at 3 am and worked ALL day.  Had a two hour nap in the middle of the day, went back to work and came home at 11:45 pm.  Yeah — so literally, no time for swimming.)

Sunday, February 10th – LONG BIKE/RUN –

3:00:00 Strength Ride: Ride as 30min easy, then steady riding with mod hard tempo climbs

30:00 Run: Run off the bike for 30 minutes Easy and relaxed.

 

 

 

 

Post Ride/Run Fuel:  

Chocolate Protein Smoothie ~

two bananas; almond milk; almond butter and Bioplex Chocolate Whey Isolate Protein.  Yummy!

(Awesome outdoor ride with Roxie and her husband Rusty!  I rode to their house, which is a little over 2 miles away from mine and off we went.  It was gorgeous out today, but still rather chilly, so I dressed warm.  We rode 45 miles in 2 hours and 40 min, so I made up the difference by my ride to and from their house.  I went a little longer on my return trip which gave me a total of 50.5 miles overall.  Yippee!  My furtherest ride this year!!  Then off I went for a quick run.  Legs felt a bit heavy and I felt like I was going rather slow, but when I looked down at my watch, I was doing an 8 min pace.  What?  Ok, I’ll take it!  3.8 miles in 30 minutes for an average pace of 7:54.  Splits: 8:03, 7:52, 7:41, 7:38)

Overall Training Hours completed for Week Six: 8 hours 53 minutes

22.08 miles of running

86.5 miles of biking (estimate)

1.13 miles of swimming