Big Week

After last week's illness and then going ahead and running 18+ miles last Sunday, I decided to move some workouts around a bit this week. I didn't think running on Monday would be a good idea, so I just swam (and pretty well at that) and did my abs/core workout. I also had to squeeze in a massage and then got a haircut at the end of the day.

With no run on Monday, I needed to do one on Tuesday, and since I really don't need to do brick runs in preparation for Ultraman and my focus right now is running to be ready for Goofy Challenge, and just to fit everything into my day, I ran in the morning, but it had snowed overnight, so I warmed up with about :30 of shoveling my driveway. The run felt good, and I held myself to Z1 and Z2 so it was nice and easy. Later on I did a 1:30 trainer ride, and kept the intensity to only about 80% of FTP as my legs were a little tired from the morning run plus I had skipped my long ride last week.

Some weeks ago, I had thought about doing a "hundred" workout on Saturday, which would consist of a 5-mile swim, 80-mile ride and 15-mile run, but after being sick last week, I didn't want to risk such a long workout putting me in a bad place 2 weeks before Goofy, so I kept to my original plan which was to do the 15-mile run on Wednesday and just the swim and ride on Saturday.

I took Wednesday and Thursday off from work this week, since I didn't feel like getting in a 15-miler before work and also try and fit in a swim on Wednesday, and then it just made sense to take Thursday off as well, and it worked out really well.

The intention was to swim first on Wednesday to do a T-pace (threshold pace) swim test followed by the long run, but for some reason, I just could not get to sleep on Tuesday. I think it had to do with the impending Christmas holiday and end of year, when I typically start thinking about all that was the past year and what is to come in the new year. A lot happened in the last year--a lot of good things, but some bad things, too. I had a great training and racing year, but I lost a relationship with someone I loved, and I have finally had to admit that 3 of my siblings are effectively gone from my life forever, too (they no longer communicate with me except to scream at me or send me nasty emails telling me what a horrible person I am, all post-Dad's death). All that plus witnessing a close friend lose her sister to liver cancer, which is how my Dad died, just stirred up so many feelings of loss and grief in me, and I rolled these things over and over and over in my head, unable to sleep. And of course, I questioned what I am choosing to do now (train for Ultraman), and it all decided to be front and center Tuesday night. But eventually I did get to sleep, although I am not really sure how much I did get.

Sometime during the night on Tuesday, I knew that I would still wake up with the light but that I would not try and make the early pool time so I shut off my alarm clock. Which meant that I would do my long run first and the alleged swim test second. I knew I had to throw out the notion of swimming well after 15 miles of running, and I just accepted it. The run went really well, though, and I averaged 9:09 pace for it, so I couldn't complain (yes, I AM slow!). I still swam afterward, and it did feel good to swim, but with various parts of my legs and feet taking turns cramping (which made me laugh and yet remember why they don't put a swim last in a triathlon of any distance longer than a sprint), I decided to strap on the pull buoy and paddles to knock out the 900 yards which would have been the test. Still, it felt good to swim, as it always does after a long run when I have the time.

Thursday, since I had the day off, I was thinking about doing a short run and then a 1:30 trainer ride, but somehow once I got on the treadmill, I decided to just run really easy and stretched :45 into 1:15, which meant I really wouldn't need to run the rest of the week. And I was feeling a little sick-ish again, with a runny yet stuffy nose, and I wasn't sure about my energy level. Looking back, though, I attribute this to just general sadness over the Christmas holiday, which I would be spending alone. Grief is an interesting thing--just when you think you are done with it, it comes right back at you in interesting ways. Still, I have learned that whether the cold-like symptoms are really a cold or just a result of grief, my body believes they are the same thing, so in respect of that, I decided to just bag the trainer ride. I could do it on Friday if I wanted to. Instead, I finished up my strength work for the week which felt good.

Friday, Christmas Day, I just decided to not do anything. I'd done enough running for the week, and since I had only ridden 3 hours last week, and I am tapering for Goofy, I justified skipping my second weekday trainer ride, figuring that I'd get in 4 hours on Saturday, so I'd still be at 5.5 hours for the week which isn't half bad for this time of year.

Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I figured I had better fix some bottles for the Saturday festival. I figured on 3 hours of swimming and 4 hours of riding. I set my alarm for 3:55AM along with the coffee pot for a few minutes earlier. I did manage to fall asleep by 8:30, I think, and slept well, and waking up today, I didn't feel at all sick. I immediately got dressed, poured a cup of coffee, began eating a Power Bar, took the Ultrafuel out of the fridge, and noodled around on the computer waiting for...ahem...the morning business to alert me, which it did, and when I looked outside I could see about 1.5" of new snow on the ground, but I did not have time to move it, so I was in my car at 4:45AM to drive to the Y to swim.

I got there quickly (no traffic at that hour especially the day after Christmas!), and had my choice of parking spot, so I picked one that a plow had just made nice, walked in, and I and 2 other people waited for the doors to open at about 5:01. I asked the nice couple what they were planning on doing and they said weights, so they wouldn't need to wait for anyone else. I forgot I had on my fleece Ironman hat and they just assumed I was doing something big, and I told them what I was up to (just the swimming part).

I got into the locker room and stuff put away and was on deck and got in and started swimming at 5:05 (if nothing else, I am pretty quick at the transitions, as I seem to do so many of them!). The water was a nice temperature for once. As I began, I had to decide how I was going to break things up, making sure I took enough breaks to take in some Infinit. In the end, it went like this: 2000 free, 200 back, 2100 free with 1st 500 as 25 hard/25 easy, 2nd 500 as 50 hard/50 easy, 3rd 500 as 75 hard/50 easy (actually did 600 here), 4th 500 as 100 hard/50 easy, 200 kick, 2200 pull/paddles, 2200 free, 200 kick. I had intended to only do 8800 (5 miles), but I was a bit faster than I thought I'd be and had time to do 9100 to finish by 8:00AM when Masters starts, but they didn't swim today, oh well, at least I was done with that! Total swim time: 2:56.

There was a point while I was swimming that I could feel my pecs working, that was pretty cool. I didn't really feel tired mentally or physically until I was about 6,000 yards in. So that's good, that my "this sucks" threshold has been raised up to that level. Although, it didn't really suck so much, really. When I was done and got out, I could feel my arms, sure, but they weren't trashed or anything. People always ask if my arms hurt after these things, and why would they? I have been lifting for so many years and have worked my way up in swimming, so I wouldn't really expect them to.

I spent about 7' in the sauna stretching my arms and upper back and then put on my bike clothes, street clothes over (cold and snowy, you know, and I am a wimp), and headed to the car. A little more snow had fallen since I'd been gone, but it was really light, fluffy stuff, and so I just brushed it off my car quickly and drove home. I decided to start shoveling my driveway, thinking that after the day was over I might want to go somewhere, and once I start, I finish the whole thing, which might not have been the brightest idea after all that swimming, but it didn't feel bad and my arms didn't hurt, so I finished my driveway in :35 (it's like 75 feet long, FYI). I went in and got the bike ready (pump the tires, put the power meter on, put fluids next to it), turned on Universal Sports (I have been seriously enjoying all the Alpine coverage in the leadup to the Olympics), wrote down my swim crap, and was rolling (going nowhere fast!) at 9:30.

Oh boy, this is the second time I've done a long swim before a ride (I mean other than in an Ironman), and let's say there is a difference between a 4-mile and a 5-mile swim. You'd think just your upper body is fatigued, but it permeates your core and your legs, too (all that kicking, dontcha know!). So I expect to be sluggish to start with. And oh, by the way, at some point while I was swimming, I'd decided that instead of 80 miles I would do 90, because then I would be pretty close to Day 1 of Ultraman, which is 10K swim followed by 90-mile ride. I justified this since I had skipped my second weekday ride, and I will not train on Sunday (probably!), and it's just riding, so why not?

Long story short, I rode the first 2:30 in the small chainring just to be nice to myself, and then I popped it into the big chainring for the remainder. The ride took 4:55, which is a little slow for me, but hey, I swam almost 3 hours and shoveled beforehand! I realized somewhere around 4 hours that this was the longest trainer ride I'd ever done! Preceded by the longest swim I'd ever done! So a big day of firsts! I am very glad I decided not to put a run at the end of this--that would have just been unnecessary--and not even specific for Ultraman training. Hell, if I was going to do that, I may as well just have done an entire Ironman, right? Um...no. Not today!

If you are interested in the whole calorie burn/nutrition thing, the bike says I burned 2870 calories. I'm going to guess that the swim was about 1700, so that's a hefty 4570 calories, not bad for a day's work! Counting breakfast and through to the end of the ride plus recovery drink, I took in 2519 calories, leaving a deficit of 2051 plus my BMR of about 2000 so I will have to do some catch-up eating tomorrow.

I am really happy that I was able to do this workout this soon in my Ultraman preparation. There is just something different about putting such a long swim in front of a long ride. I have to say, that was not easy, especially with the ride being on the trainer, which was mentally harder to me than the swim (at least I was going SOMEWHERE while swimming). Next is to see how I recover from this, which will tell me when I can next do it again, although I don't think there are any 5-hour rides planned until April. Still, I find these sorts of things are huge confidence boosters. I am still pretty humbled by the idea of Ultraman, and getting through this phase of training is just the tip of the iceberg. Next big workout is just a half marathon followed by a marathon! But I've done that before, and my body knows what to expect, and that will conclude my big run focus for September-December.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and get ready for another year soon!