Frozen in

Last week was tough for training for a number of reasons. The effects from the ice/snow storm on Tuesday are still lingering today; we only just got the car out of its parking spot this morning! We didn't swim on Thursday because we couldn't get to the pool; I was able to do about 45 minutes of the long run at lunch on the treadmill. Saturday's 100'/15' brick in Rock Creek was canceled because of the conditions. We went to gym instead and I did 60'/20'. Riding the spin bikes for that long is mentally tough; we tried to get into a 60' organized spin class but it was full (I guess everybody else had the same idea). Sunday was supposed to be a swim, but again the car was stuck behind the ice mound on 17th. It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway since Takoma was closed to lap swimming due to a big meet all weekend. There aren't many other pools to go to on Sunday. My workout for that day was the 40 minutes I spent breaking ice and shoveling to clear a path for the car!! Yesterday was supposed to be another bike but we ended up skipping that as well.

This morning we got back on track in the pool. The workout was 2400 yards (the most yet), but it didn't seem that bad simply because there weren't any drill sets. Just straight swimming. The main set was 2 x pyramids:

50 easy/100 build/150 race/200 cruise/150 race/100 build/50 easy

Aside from my shoulder really aching from the delayed shoveling soreness it felt like a good workout. The longer intervals were tough, but I never felt like I was struggling to keep up or to catch my breath. 35' run included a 6' AT ("at threshold") interval meaning an almost maximum effort that can be sustained without totally burning you out. I went out my on my regular Mass. Ave route up towards the Observatory and ended doing that interval on the way up the hill. I've got to find a flatter route! It was hard today given that most of the sidewalks are still complete ice unless they've been shoveled. My whole body feels run down now. Just 4 more workouts until another EZ week.