Gearing down

This week is another EZ Week. One more build cycle left! Well, OK, 1.5 build cycles. The last one leads right into the taper for race week. EZ Weeks are a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand it's nice to get a break and not worry how we are going to fit two long workouts in on certain days. On the other hand we've made so much progress that it's hard to dial it back in. Take today. We were scheduled for a 15' run after swim practice. 15 minutes! I was glad for those workouts 2 months ago, but now it seems like it's not enough. Since I know I can now I feel like I must keep training, go further! The rest is nice, though. I didn't feel that bad being out for only 15' (OK, 17.5').

Swim practice this morning was a bunch of fun drills designed to get us used to the open water and flailing limbs of race day. As we were swimming a 10' set the coaches removed the lane lines. I tell ya, it makes a huge difference. The water turned from nice and calm to really choppy without the baffles to kill waves. It forces you to change your breathing strategy so you don't get a mouthful of water. We also did a mass start with everybody in the water and swam around people positioned in a triangle in the pool as "bouys". It was not easy. I think everybody got kicked a few times.

The brick workout on Saturday sucked. It was still really cold. Even the great new gloves that I got for my birthday didn't do anything. I guess I'm cursed with cold fingers. The new booties we got worked fairly well, but not for the whole ride. We were scheduled for 110', but after 90' I had done two loops and jumped off to run. Running when you can't feel your toes is unpleasant. I don't think this is what training to run off the bike is all about. This Saturday we have a short ride at Hains Point and it should be above freezing at least.