The week I rode 112 miles - week 11 training update

This is my week 11 training update - and 4 weeks from tomorrow I leave for Panama City and in just less than 5 weeks I will be completing Ironman Florida!  While I missed the mark on many parts of my training this week, I feel very confident in my training and my fitness to carry me nicely through IMFL!

The Numbers - week 10- September 21 - October 1

Swam 1 times (Wed): 1,100m, 24 mins
Biked 5 times (Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sun)292km, 10 hours and 20 mins
Ran 3 times (Mon, Sun, Mon):27.8km , 2 hours and 41mins
Weight training twice (Tuesday, Thursday) 

Ok, so I really dropped the ball on swimming but I have a good excuse!  Public lane swim is impossible!  It's crowded and annoying and I knew that I would be starting my master's swim with the Toronto Triathlon Club this week so I blew off the swim.  It was frustrating and I wasn't getting the practice I needed. I felt like I was wasting time and I didn't have time to waste! 

I also slacked off on the run a bit.  After my amazingly quick 30km last Sunday I decided to pull down my mileage knowing that next week I will be running 32 - 34km with Barry at the Chicago marathon as my final long run.  I'm very confident in my ability to run the marathon right now and I'm playing a little defence as I don't want to get injured!

Now what I did nail this week was the bike!  I did some hard interval classes during the week and then I hit my major milestone of 112 miles + (180km + ) on the bike.  It was exceptionally wonderful.  While I fretted over the weather the 4 days leading up to my Sunday ride, the weather was near perfect with temps climbing up to 17*c and light winds from the North.  Chad met me at Leslie and Elgin Mills around 8:30 and we hit the road near 9.  Both Chad and I had recently purchased aero helmets and we both decided to try them out on this ride.  While we might have looked funny ...

We had an amazing ride!  Yes that is a lightening bolt down the center of the helmet and yes it did make me feel faster!

I nailed my nutrition and felt great.  My tri shorts I have been wearing all summer kept me perfectly comfortable - much more comfortable then the bike shorts I wore on last weeks 100 mile ride.  And the new helmet was perfectly comfortable!  

That's a pretty far way to go - but it felt great and we did it fast too - took us just over 6 hours with an average speed of 30 kph according to Chad's watching, 29.8 kph according to mine.  We did a very short run after - 2.5km but they were pretty fast and my legs felt great - I could have run a marathon if it were the Ironman!  I'm really hoping that training on this hilly route will pay off on the flat Florida course!

So while I didn't hit all the numbers on my plan, I feel amazing about my training and my ability right now.  This week coming up is my last "build" week and again life is getting in the way a little bit.  My hubby is running the Chicago marathon on Sunday which happens to coincide with my long run - as much as I want to run the entire 42.2km, I have been strongly advised against it so I'm running the 32 km as per my plan.  Unfortunately, due to my little guys hockey, I won't be able to do my long ride as planned on Friday, I'm out of town Wed and Thursday for a friends birthday, so my long ride is going to be pushed into next week a bit - either Monday or Tuesday ... and then I will start my taper.

Other than that, this week I will get one master's swim in tonight, a good fast midweek temp run on Wednesday morning and my interval bike work on Thursday and Friday.  

I still cannot believe only 33 more sleeps until the big day and only  4 weeks until I leave for Florida!