It wasn't on the schedule, but i never got around to biking the last five miles after work yesterday because of the rain. i spent most of the night reading a blog i've been working my way through, From Marshmallow Man to Ironman, and felt guilty because he had an entire spiel about training in the rain because you never know what race conditions will be like.
So today i headed to the pool and swam 600m, trying to see how long it takes me to swim 50m freestyle vs. 50m breaststroke, and then trying to swim 100m straight by working in a little breaststroke when i start to get winded. i'm staying in a good zone cardio wise, but will need to pace myself a bit race day because there's no place to rest.
After i got home i rode to the highway and back, then out to the dirt road (just past the cattleguard). i ran half an hour, in pouring rain for ten of those minutes, then rode home. When i got back to my bike it had fallen over and there was mud all over one handlebar, my helmet, and a bit on my gloves. i opened the Camelbak up and rinsed off what i could on the handlebar, inside of the helmet, and gloves, before continuing (which added to my rest time). The entire trip took me an hour and eight minutes (those eight minutes largely being one pause for a breath halfway through the bike ride and transitions). i also practiced my swim to bike transition twice before starting out, once in flip flops and once barefoot (owie!), improving my time the second time. Worked on cadence and changing gears again, this time often settling into a 96 rpm stroke, which is really good but i think indicates that i need to shift up just one gear more and push myself a little harder. i'm not sure i'll really be able to improve my cycling much more before the race, but i'm starting to think about working on it more afterwards.
The run itself was a challenge because it was a brick, and uphill the first half, and in the rain with my hair matted to my face, and with a headwind on the way down, but i went farther than i was expecting to (since i felt so weak at the beginning), 2 miles, and i actually had an okay pace of 4 mph average. My runs are going okay, not great, and i didn't feel like i had the greatest day (considering how strong i felt on the way to the pool), but it does feel good to know that i just finished another mini-tri (albeit with a really extended swim). ETA: i did also notice at the beginning of the second interval of my run that i had recovered quite a bit and felt like i had more energy on the way back than out. i also noticed during Int. 2 that my thighs don't rub together as badly anymore: new measurements indicate that i have lost 3" on my thighs, down 1" from my pre-training measurement. i also noticed this on Monday when my favorite pair of jeans were uncomfortably loose, which is bittersweet to say the least.
A week and a half to race day!
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