Week of June 17

Somehow the overall volume in my training plan snuck up on me this week. Don't know how that happened, as I plan out all the workouts and know the duration going in. Anyways, I jumped from about 11 hours last week to 14-1/2 this week. Throughout the week, I found myself waking up sickeningly early to do some long workouts, and being very, very tired at night.

About half of the 14-1/2 hours were on the bike. Tuesday brought a 90-minute computrainer ride with a 30-minute tempo interval, Thursday, a 2-hour Computrainer session(started at about 4:45 for that one), and Saturday a 3-1/2 hour road ride (covered 65 miles). The long ride was really solid. I maintained a 19 mph pace and averaged 126 HR. Still working on the nutrition, but I'm pretty confident with the bike at this point, and looking forward to exploring higher mileage sessions in coming weeks.

The week also included a 2-hour run last Sunday--my longest since the half marathon in April--and a 90-minute, 4,000 meter swim on Wednesday morning. I was excited about the swim, as the distance is longer than the ironman swim, and my split times (the workout was mostly intervals of 200-300 meers) remained relatively consistent all the way through.

Overall, I feel pretty good. I've had a little tightness in my left Achilles that tends to work itself out as I run. And a little soreness on the outside of my right knee in the late miles of my rides. Neither is stopping me, but I am trying to be aware and careful. Luckily, this is a recovery week on my plan. There's a test session in the pool on Wednesday, but otherwise the workouts are shorter and low intensity. Should be an opportunity to heal.

12 weeks to go.

Sunday: 2 hour run, zone 1-2
Monday: 45 minutes of weights; 1-hour run, zone 1
Tuesday: 1-1/2 hour bike, zone 1-2 with a 30-minute zone 3 interval
Wednesday: 90 minute swim (endurance)
Thursday: 2-hour bike; 45-minute run
Friday: 75-minute swim; 45-minute run
Saturday: 3-1/2 hour bike; 30-minute run (brick)