{"id":3771,"date":"2013-07-30T16:49:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T16:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/?p=3771"},"modified":"2013-07-30T16:49:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T16:49:23","slug":"week-29-good-bad-ugly-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/30\/week-29-good-bad-ugly-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 29: Good Bad Ugly Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

No race for a few weekends means I can actually do a weekly post.\u00a0 Woohoo!\u00a0 It was the week of good, bad, and ugly.\u00a0 Let’s start on the positives and work our way down from there.<\/p>\n

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The Good – Training<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really nailed this week.\u00a0 My body took everything I threw at it last week, with my highest volume week yet this year, and was ready for more.\u00a0 I was really happy with that after dragging it kicking and screaming through the minimal amount of training that seemed halfway reasonable to prepare for BSLT, I’m ready to handle things much better this time.\u00a0 Instead of the mental fuck which is putting out a training plan, knowing that it is both too little to prepare you for your race and too much for your body to handle, and just trying to hit as much as you can, it’s nice to turn all the boxes green, not have to put in caveats, and say, yep, went as planned.<\/p>\n

I had a few days last week where I either mixed up which knee was hurt or realized it was the end of the day and I hadn’t thought about my knee at all.\u00a0 It’s not 100% twinge free all the time, but this is probably the next step in healing, where it’s just not a factor.\u00a0 I’m continuing the icing and stretching and all that, but it’s now just as preventative medicine.\u00a0 I’m really glad about that.<\/p>\n

Swim:<\/p>\n

While I don’t expect to see much more in the way of gains in the pool this year, I’m really enjoying that I’m cruising in at about 30-33 mins, depending on the day, for 1500m.\u00a0 In January, it was taking me 30 mins to swim less than 1100.\u00a0 I’m definitely considering doing a couple weeks of swim focus in the early season next year, because it just seems like when I put myself in the water more and start getting towards that 6-7km per week, my times just drop.<\/p>\n

Bike:<\/p>\n

Epic biking week over here.\u00a0 First of all, I did the same volume of training I did last year this week (~135 miles) and instead of crashing and burning, I came out feeling awesome.\u00a0 I did two long rides – one 50 miler on the trainer, and a 64 miler outside.\u00a0 The trainer one was just fine, but the outdoor one was GLORIOUS.\u00a0 I felt amazing through the whole thing, I kept increasing speed (from 15 mph at the beginning to over 16.5 mph at the end), I never got down or felt bad or got too delirious, and for the first time ever, I could fathom going 100 miles.\u00a0 Piling on the bike miles this month seems to be a good decision.\u00a0 Also, I’m definitely enjoying doing double bricks and pushing myself fast on the trainer as well.<\/p>\n

Run:<\/p>\n

Running MILES are taking a backseat this month, but I’m working on intensity.\u00a0 Another great double brick, where both miles were sub-9s (8:55 and 8:36).\u00a0 Nice, easy 9 miler, where my HR is finally cooperating.\u00a0 Not that 11:30s are anything to throw a party over, but the effort in which those 9 miles were done is (decent HR, felt like I could go on forever, even on tired legs).\u00a0 The mile off the bike on Saturday was great too – 10:30s felt like conversational pace (spent the time yacking with our friend B) and I could have easily run more but B had to go, and then by the time we could have got going again, I was cooled down and we figured we should call it.<\/p>\n

Weights:<\/p>\n

Back to them.\u00a0 I’m about at my maintenance weights for the program, not counting the last, heavier set I should be doing.\u00a0 I’ll probably just stay here for a while – my knee feels stronger because of the lifting, but I don’t want to push it.<\/p>\n

By the days…<\/p>\n

Monday: Weights: Getting Better + Stretch<\/a> 01:00, Swim: 50 Laps<\/a> 1500 m 00:33
\nTuesday: Bike: Trainer + Star Wars Ep. VI an…<\/a> 50 mi 02:16 – 22.1mph pace
\nWednesday: Bike: Double Brick: Trainer + Music…<\/a> 20 mi 00:42 – 28.3mph pace, Run: Double Brick: 1 Mile Loop<\/a> 2 mi 00:18 08:45 pace, Weights: Samesies<\/a> 01:00, Swim: Little Sprints<\/a> 1500 m 00:30
\nThursday: Run: Normal Loops + 2222 and Back<\/a> 9.12 mi 01:45 11:30 pace
\nFriday: off
\nSaturday: Bike: Magical Unicorn Ride at the V…<\/a> 63.77 mi 03:51 16.6mph pace, Run: Little brick<\/a> 1.02 mi 00:10:42 10:29 pace
\nSunday: off<\/p>\n

12 hours total.\u00a0 3000m swim, 134 miles bike, 12 miles run, 2 weights sessions.<\/p>\n

This week is taper + Jack’s Generic Olympic, so it will be nice to get some rest and recovery, with only 5 hours of training planned (plus the race).\u00a0 My goals for this race are:<\/p>\n

Swim + transition in under 30.\u00a0 I hope I will WELL surpass that but the beach run in between the loops is definitely making me nervous (long, rocky, ouchie beach).<\/p>\n

Bike – beat 18 mph.\u00a0 I did 18.1 here for the sprint on a hillier course, I just did 16.6 mph on a much. much longer ride, the course is pretty pancake flat minus about ~5 short hills, so I feel like 18 is in my grasp.\u00a0 I want to really push this and test my bike legs.\u00a0 18mph is 1:26 for this 25.8 mile course, so I’d like to beat that.<\/p>\n

Run – they advertise 6 miles, but I know the course is a few tenths of a mile short.\u00a0 I want to do this in under an hour.\u00a0 I want to just make sure to stay with it and try to push as hard as I can off the bike.\u00a0 However, this race, since I’m definitely more bike focused this month, I think I would rather burn a little more on the bike this race and if it costs me a few seconds on the run, so be it.\u00a0 I know I can slog around this perfectly flat trail pretty well even on tired legs.<\/p>\n

Folks, that makes about 3 hours allowing for a few mins at T2, so I’m gunning to be at the finish no later than 11:08am.\u00a0 Also, I start 6 mins after Zliten, so it’s a toss up whether I’ll catch him in the water depending on the day I have, so I may be the rabbit or I may be the chaser on this one.<\/p>\n

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The bad – Food\/Scale<\/strong><\/p>\n

Going from 9 to 12 hours of training on the same amount of food probably wasn’t realistic, but it was worth a try.\u00a0 I’m ok with being a little hungry (ok, I’m not, but I can at least pretend), but forces within me actually dragged my butt to the kitchen at time to binge on things that could have been better.\u00a0 Huge, huge hunger crashes.\u00a0 Next peak week, I just need to prepare for that and plan lots of better good-for-me food (2000 calories is probably the lowest I should go on training days where I do 2+ hours).<\/p>\n

I am making zero progress.\u00a0 The scale is stuck at 177-179.\u00a0 I’ve not been diligent about food tracking during peak training, like, ever, so I’m not sure whether it’s that I keep fucking up, or whether my body is just totally being resistant, or what, but it’s frustrating.\u00a0 July had a lot of social stuff, and that always throws me for a loop nutrition-wise, but August so far just looks like a nice solid block of training and being hermit-like.\u00a0 And I’m very ok with that.<\/p>\n

Best (worst) thing I ate this week: a club sandwich on a fried donut, with homemade potato chips and fried brussel sprouts.<\/p>\n

I’d say that could potentially be a reason I’m not making progress, but I feel like one meal like that on a week where I did over 12 hours of training is justified.\u00a0 The rest of the week was my normal 90\/10, but just more calories of it.\u00a0 All I can do is keep plugging along.\u00a0 This week’s goal is good food, back to normal levels since I’m training less, and no junk.<\/p>\n

Monday: 1448 calories, 27 DQ
\nTuesday: 1947 calories, 28 DQ
\nWednesday: 2164 calories, 27 DQ
\nThursday: 2732 calories, 23 DQ
\nFriday: 1679 calories, 22 DQ
\nSaturday: 2729 calories, -2 DQ
\nSunday: 2163 calories, 5 DQ<\/p>\n

Averages: 2123 calories, 18.5 DQ (wow, that’s really, really terrible for me)<\/p>\n

Weight: Low – 176.0, High – 179.6<\/p>\n

The quality of the weekend was bad, but if you keep in mind that on Tuesday, I rode 50 miles, Wednesday, I rode 20, ran 2, swam a mile, and did weights, Thursday I ran 9 miles, and Saturday, I rode my bike for 4 hours and then ran, these calorie counts are probably not the end of the world.\u00a0 I just need to detox from eating 3 different fried foods yesterday, and hopefully I’ll make some progress this week.<\/p>\n

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The Ugly – EVERYTHING IS BREAKING<\/strong><\/p>\n

While my body is holding together, my things are falling apart.\u00a0 Here are my tales of woe from the last few weeks:<\/p>\n