{"id":8176,"date":"2018-07-31T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T23:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/?p=8176"},"modified":"2021-03-23T22:36:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T04:36:57","slug":"week-3-feels-like-coming-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/31\/week-3-feels-like-coming-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 3 – feels like coming home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three weeks down, nine to go to Cozumel 70.3, thirteen to Waco 70.3.<\/p>\n

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I’m feeling pretty good about things right now.\u00a0 I’m not feeling ready to race a 70.3 yet, but with six weeks of solid training left + three weeks of taper, I think I have enough time to get my legs under me.<\/p>\n

After my first block (two weeks build, one week stepback), here’s how I feel about the various sports. Some time a like to play table tennis and tennis. What is your playing level? If you play occasionally, consider control as a key aspect for the tt racket. Buy the best ping pong paddles amazon<\/a>, which suits your style from NIBIRU SPORT’s wide range of table tennis rackets.<\/p>\n

Swimming<\/strong>, I used to love you the most.\u00a0 About 5 years ago, it was my best sport of the three and I enjoyed practicing it, especially once we started at Pure Austin and I had the beautiful pool and lake handy to paddle in.\u00a0 For some reason, over the last two years, I’ve fallen out of love with swimming (and my slightly worsening times in the pool have reflected this).<\/p>\n

However, the good news is that a) summer is here and while my motivation is lower than previous years, it’s at this year’s peak to be in the water and b) while my pool times are not great, I’m actually working REALLY HARD on my open water form and those times are actually coming down.\u00a0 Funny, when you swim with your head down and try to emulate your form in the pool even when you can’t see the black line, things get more efficient.\u00a0 Rather than something like a 30 sec\/100m discrepancy between pool and open water, I’m closer to like 10.\u00a0 While it’s partly the product of not doing speedwork and getting slower in the pool, it’s also attention to better form all around and I’m racing in open water the rest of the year (so the pool times don’t matter) so I’ll call it a win.<\/p>\n

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Biking,<\/strong> is it possible to miss you even though I ride three times a week?\u00a0 I’m feeling rather wistful for last year’s cycling training (for the Hotter’n’Hell 100<\/a>) which was: ride bikes.\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 Preferably in the heat.\u00a0 I miss the commuting, I miss taking off early in the morning to ride for hours and hours on a Saturday (with no impending brick run after), and I miss bike adventures and group rides with the goals of just to GET LOTS OF MILES ON MY BUTT.<\/p>\n

However, this entire year is about sharpening the stick.\u00a0 I’ve allowed myself one ride per week with the goal just to enjoy being outside on Evilbike, and I’m finding I rarely want to stop.\u00a0 I know there will be more time for this later in the year, and I’m sticking to my specific goals involving shorter melt-your-face-off TT speed sessions and longer brick workout riding places where I don’t have to stop much to simulate race efforts.\u00a0 But… man, I’m looking forward to some times in November\/December where we hop on our bikes and go ride with some stops to take pictures of cool things and eat food with no pace or time goals.<\/p>\n

That being said, it was nice that 17.2 mph on the Shoal Creek loop felt. like. holding. back. like. woah.\u00a0 So the effort I’m putting in is worth it.<\/p>\n

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Running<\/strong> is a surprise.\u00a0 It’s been the bane of my existence for years, both with my slowing paces and random minor but annoying injuries and imbalances.\u00a0 Even earlier this year, my take on running was that I should do it as little and fast as possible.\u00a0 My meager 5-ish miles a week (but mostly faster) returned enough dividends that I wasn’t going to change things.<\/p>\n

I’m running about 2-3 times a week now, which isn’t that much different than before, but the runs are longer (last week I did a whole ELEVEN miles for almost TWO HOURS of running).\u00a0 Oddly enough, or maybe just as a surprise to no one but me, since I’m a little lighter and have new shoes, both my legs and brain have taken to some additional miles as if they’re coming home from a long time away.\u00a0 In fact, these longer hours in general feels like coming home, as it’s been a while.\u00a0 Intentional absence, for sure, but it’s fun to train a lot.\u00a0 I digress.<\/p>\n

The cool thing is that I am completing pretty much all of my runs at the pace goals I’m setting, even after time away, even in the heat, even when I have the ability to make excuses why it’s too fast – it’s not.\u00a0 While I know 7 miles is way shorter than 13, I felt like 10:40\/mile was a nice relaxed pace that I did not want to stop when I finished (and spoilers, I held a slightly faster pace for 9 this week though I was 100% READY TO STOP after).\u00a0 In the feels like 100+ degree heat, I was able to maintain a 10:30\/mile pace for a 10k off the bike (with a few water stops).\u00a0 In the insane humidity, I was able to descend, not quite to 10k but to at least slightly under half marathon pace (9:30-9:45), for the middle three miles of last week’s run on Tuesday even though it felt like running through soup.<\/p>\n

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Weights<\/strong> is a thing in which I am still doing because I know I need to, but I don’t have too much love for it right now.\u00a0 I know it’s one of my most important sessions of the week, but that doesn’t mean the illogical part of my brain wants to skip it to go do other things.\u00a0 I’m definitely moved past the “heavy lifting” part of the year and probably have to let go of the fact that deadlifting\/squatting any signficant weight is going to need to be on pause until after Waco and recovery, but I’m still showing up and doing the things.\u00a0 The default workout right now is:<\/p>\n