Training Right on Through!

I'm so excited for the "Couples Triathlon" this weekend and with temps expected over 100 degrees on Sunday, I know it will be a smokin' good time! Let's hope our finishing times are just hot!!

Because this is not an "A" race, we're expected to train on through this one like it's just another workout. That means that my training schedule was a little topsy-turvy and minimal, at best.

Tuesday, July 8th

Recovery Run 45 min in the morning and T3 Indoor Cycling in the evening.

Wednesday, July 9th

Gazelles--1000m Repeats on the track. This was a good start to the longer speedwork for the summer, but my goal is to be between 4:00-4:10 for each repeat in order to be within striking distance of my 3:20 marathon goal. I've been there before. While these were challenging, they weren't crazy difficult and after search my blog contents, I was doing these in the above range last year. Time to step it up a bit!

#1 4:37 (warm up)

#2 4:32

#3 4:22

#4 4:21

#5 4:14

#6 3:54

On Wednesday evening, I turned down not one, but two Happy Hour offers to go to Jack and Adam's "Corture" class with Richard. Yeah, I'm pretty sure if I wasn't committed to Richard that evening, I would've been sucking down the vino by 5:45pm. As it was, I'm SOOOO glad I stuck to my guns, remained disciplined and had a great hour-long core workout led by pro-triathlete Pat Evoe. Plus, I knew that Richard and I would meet our respective spouses after core for--you guessed it--drinks and dinner! We ended up meeting up with a couple of my coworkers and were made fun of for showing up at the restaurant in our workout gear. We were topped only by Shawn who had just run the 4 miles from our house and was dripping---POURING sweat. Yep, my coworkers think we're nuts!

Thursday, July 10th

I hit the T3 Morning Swim Workout and felt pretty good. I still struggle with how to get from 80% effort to 95% effort without actually wanting to die. My breathing just goes to hell in a handbasket when I try to increase power and speed. Consequently, I end up with the "windmill" stroke and my times don't get faster. With that said, here's the good news. I may be at a bit of a swimming plateau, but a plateau is a good thing because it means I'm so much better than I was a year ago. I'm just adjusting to this phase until I get stronger and faster. It's easy and encouraging to see that I know I can continue to improve.

Friday, July 11th

I got up at 6am and rode 36 miles down in South Austin in a combination of Circle C and South Mopac. The sunrise was beautiful and I averaged 17.7mph overall on this ride, which made me feel a little better about my performance in Lubbock. Afterwards, I hopped off and just did an abbreviated 10min jog of the bike because I had to get to work AND I've got a long run scheduled for tomorrow!

Saturday, July 12th

My long run plan for tomorrow is 15-16 miles of Scenic/Mt. Bonnell...not your average pre-race run. However, I'm just trying to stay focused on my running for the Fall marathon.

Sunday, July 13th

Last year I posted a 1:22:50 at this race which amounted to a 20min swim, 18.9mph avg on the bike and 7:19 pace on the run. Ideally, I'd like to improve each slightly, but we'll see what happens! The bike time will be tough to beat and the run has a long hill at the end that tends to suck the life out of everyone. If nothing else, it will be FUN and Team Barrett is going to kick some butt!!!!!!!