Improvements

One of the toughest parts about training is the time horizon for seeing improvements. They come a little at a time, are not always linear, and may take months to actually appear, but when they do it's pretty invigorating. When that improvement comes on a run it's downright exciting for me. ANY improvement on the run is cause for a little celebration. I'm having horrible thoughts of doing really well on the swim and bike and then totally tanking on the run.

My first 5K way back on Thanksgiving clocked in at 32:06, good for a 10:22/mile pace. Now that was on a pretty hilly course with the biggest hill coming in the last mile. Yesterday we ran in the Shamrock 5K up in Baltimore. The course has a long downhill for most of the 1st mile then is basically flat. I knew I was going to be faster, but I went in treating it as a tempo run. I wanted to have something left in the tank after the finish. The result? 26:36. 8:55/mile pace. That's one hell of an improvement over 6 months ago. I picked up the pace for the last 1/4 mile but it wasn't a sprint by any means. Whether I can turn something comparable in during the 3rd hour of a triathlon at twice the distance is a completely different story, but my goal of doing the final 10K in under an hour is looking more and more attainable. By the way that's nothing compared to the gains Liz has made. She knocked 12-13 minutes off of her Turkey Trot time!!

We are smack dab in the middle of the toughest 3 training weeks on the schedule. Last week had us hitting new weekly highs on every workout. All I can say is that I'm glad that it looks like Spring really is here for good. Going to be mostly in the 60s this week, but of course there will be rain. The clock change may actually be detrimental since I've been doing most of my long workouts in the morning. After doing well on the 70' run last week I'm looking forward to tackling 75' this week. That will be the longest run on the schedule from now until the race; it's good to see a peak and know you can get past it.

The brick workout on Saturday was tough, but it felt good. 115' bike ride followed by a 25' run. The running hurt, and I didn't get a good sense of my pace on the trail, but I think I was running < 10:00 pace based on the mile markers. The ride was about 30 miles, but we were riding at an easy pace with some occasional sprints. The wind was a bit of a challenge though. I'm still trying to get used to the aerobars, especially trying to eat and drink while in them. I had to make sure the coast was clear before trying that!

At swim practice tomorrow we get our wetsuits. That should be fun! Here's the week:

Monday: 45' bike
Tuesday: swim (2500 yards), 40' run
Wednesday: bike 65'
Thursday: swim (2500 yards), 75' run
Friday: OFF
Saturday: brick workout, 120' bike, 30' run (Guinness makes an excellent recovery drink ;) )
Sunday: 30' continuous swim and we're running the St. Patrick's 8K here in DC. That may affect how next week's schedule shakes out.