Week Total - run 23.2, bike 47

Very average week. A couple of solid runs tho.

Sun - 2/27 - run 8.2 miles, bike 12.0

I scrapped the long run of 16 miles today due to time restraints. I had to get back to take the boys to Wee Bounce. Totally worth it. Anyway, I ran 8 miles on the YMCA track. Progressive times - 8.31/8.21/8.16/8.10/8.04/7.57/7.51/7.16. It ended up being an 8.03 pace. A good run. Seems like all of my normal runs lately have been really good. It's the speed work that is frustrating me.

I biked 12 miles on the cycops. 22.5 mph, 157 power, 91 cad, HR 138.

Sat - 2/26 - run 6.0 miles

wu) 2 miles

1/2 @ 5.49 pace
3x1/4 @ 5.49
1x1/4 @ 6.00

cd) 2 miles

* on treadmill

Fri - 2/25 - bike 15.0 miles

15 miles on the cycops. It felt like possibly my best ride but not quite. About the same as my best ride 2 weeks before Mountain Lakes. Shorter but same mph - 22.8 & cad - 92. HR was higher at 145 but so was power at 167. An ok ride. Butt is not getting used to anything longer than 30-40 minutes which is a concern. Gotta stay in aero longer than what I am if I am to maximize the aero benefits and power.

Wed - 2/23 - run 2.5 miles

The worst day of training I've had. I've felt better about days that I took off entirely than I did about this. I started and just never was able to shake off whatever I was feeling.

Tues - 2/22 - run 2.0 miles, bike 20.0 miles

AM) I got up this morning with a very scary feeling that I was slow. I've had some good runs recently with good times at varying distances, but all training runs. I've done nothing out of the ordinary at shorter speedwork type runs. So, I decided to do my 2 mile route from home. A route I've done hundreds of times and I have much data to compare times to. And because I generally have a good knack for running what I say I'm going to, I wrote down my goal times (I really didn't believe them, they were more of a hope). My uphill mile out I wrote down 6.56 (really didn't feel this one at all) and ran 7.27. It was windy and I didn't push, tho, b/c the mile back was the focus. I wrote 5.32 for the goal and I approached the 1/2 at 2.40-2.45 and although, I almost always, if not always, run the last half faster than the first, I went about 10 steps past the 1/2 and stopped running. I was hurting and mentally didn't think I could keep the pace. Which if I had, I would have run well into the 5 mins. I walked about 0.2 mile and then ran a 1.12 quarter. I am mentally a wuss right now. I definitely need to do more speedwork as I think these muscles are weak and begin to tire quickly. I hope that is what it is. I noticed a workout in my log from 2009 that was a 13.9 mile run and the time was 5 mins slower than my 15 mile run from 2 weeks ago. That has to account for something, doesn't it?

PM) 20 mile bike on cycops. 20.8 mph.

Mon - 2/21 - run 4.6 miles

I ran the regional park trail today twice. 1st lap in 21.28 (9.20) and 21.56 (9.32) for 2nd lap. Two of the quickest times I've ever run the trail and I was only trying to maintain a solid pace, not all out.

Week Total - run 22.1 miles, bike 68.0 miles

Nothing to say.

Sun - 2/20 - bike 16.0 miles

16 miles on cycleops at 159 power, 22.6 mph, 137 HR. Butt hurt so I got off. I'm a wuss!

Sat - 2/19 - run 8.6, bike 22.0

22 mile bike on the cycleops. 20.7 mph, 143 power, 84 cad and 125 HR. This was an easy ride with the goal of 22 miles in the saddle and time in aero. I did 12, 10, and 7 minute stretches in aero.

8.6 mile easy run. Averaged 8.24 and I felt much slower than that. Mostly because I had eaten, a lot, just a couple of hours before and I felt fat most of the way. I tried to do a couple of race pace halves, which I did, but I also didn't do as many as I had wanted to. It just wasn't working.

Thurs - 2/17 - bike 26.0

26 miles on the cycops. This was done in two rides of 16.2 and 9.8. The 16.2 I wanted to push a little and compare to a couple of my rides leading up to Mountains Lakes Tri last summer. I rode at 23.2 mph which was about 1/2 mph faster than July. My power was 173, 12 watts higher than last summer's 161. Cadence 94 to 92 and HR 141 to 136. Probably my best ride ever on the cycops when I take all variables into consideration. And still not within the 145-155 HR range I'm trying to train at. It is just hard to push it up there on the bike. A short break to put boys to bed then another 9.8 to make an even 26. Didn't really keep up with any stats on this one, just rode.

Wed - 2/16 - run 6.0 miles

YMCA upstairs track

wu) 1.5 miles

400 - 1.29
400 - 1.30
400 - 1.28
400 - 1.30
400 - 1.33
400 - 1.30
400 - 1.29
400 - 1.25

cd) 1.5 miles

I'm supposed to run the 400s in 1.20-1.24 but since I was on the Y track I figured I would have trouble holding onto those paces w/o running into the walls. So I decided to shoot for 1.30. As you can see, I came pretty close to set pace. Most were pretty relaxed and except for the last one, I didn't push any of them.

Tues - 2/15 - bike 4.0 miles

Started on the cycops about 10.00 PM (I wanted to go to bed) and started a pretty decent ride then Battlestar Galactica timed out on the computer and I stopped. And went to bed.

Mon - 12/14 - run 7.5 miles

Good run today. Supposed to be a recovery/easy run at about 8.40 pace. I went thru mile 1 in 7.59 and my legs felt like I was slogging thru mud. Mile 2 - 8.02, I really had to make a conscious effort to keep it down, not that 8.00 pace is fast. I picked up the last 1.5 to about 7.15-7.00 and ended up at 8.03 pace. Not necessarily the fastest I've ever run 7+, but probably real close and definitely the most relaxed.

Week Total - run 30.0 miles, bike 37.0 miles

Not a great week for running or biking. But I did get in a long run of 15 miles and I completed by 5x2' sprints at race pace. Power on the bike is continuing to improve. 800s fell short and bike week was almost nonexistant, tho.

Sun - 2/13 - bike 30.0 miles

cycops - 2x15 miles - 21.5 mph, 87 cad, 162 power, 136 HR for entire ride

Sat - 2/12 - run 15.0 miles

Long run. I almost stopped and came back home after about 4/10s. Windy and I was in a depressed mood. But I kept going and ended up with my longest continuous training run ever. 15 miles in 2.12.54 for a 8.52 pace. My 11 and 12th miles were about 8.10 pace and my last 5 were my fastest at about 8.46. I felt almost robot-like towards the end on the flats. Much faster pace than I would expect. The uphills were a different story. I felt like a wounded soldier trying to get home. A great run. This has got to make me faster, doesn't it?

Fri - 2/11 - run 8.0 miles

wu) 2 miles

5x2' @ race pace (5.49) on treadmill (HR - 165/175/172/177/178)

cd) 3.0 miles

After/during the first one I really thought I would scrap this workout or at least shorten it. But I kept plugging away and after my HR was down on the 3rd one I knew I could make it. This is odd, as these felt much more relaxed than Wed 1/2 mile repeats and they were roughly the same pace, but a bit shorter. Hopefully, I was a bit tired Wed from Sunday's long run. I am going to try and move my long run to Sat to give me an extra day of rest before my track workouts.

Wed - 2/9 - run 5.0 miles

wu) 1.5 miles

800 - 3.02 relaxed, as it turns out, too relaxed. this was much slower than I wanted it to be.

800 - 2.53 - this hurt more than I wanted it too.

800 - 2.52 - ditto

cd) 1.5 miles

I cut the intervals short by one (I had planned on doing 4) b/c the 3rd one hurt too much and I wasn't running as fast as I wanted. As it turns out, what I had planned is really too fast for where I probably am right now.

Mon - 2/7 - run 2.0 miles, weights

I only ran 2 miles today due to time restraints and felt a little tired from yesterday.

Leg press 3x10/10/12

Week Total - run 30.5 miles, bike 44 miles

Run - I hit my key workouts this week - 6x400s, 5x1' @ race pace, and my long run. Short on runs, but has to be considered a good week.

Bike - I did get in a 22 mile (race course distance) bike with 2 of my 3 rides being higher power output in more than a year. And I wasn't attempting to do that specifically. Very short on mileage but some positives.

Time to start putting it all together. Seems like I say that every week.

Sun - 2/6 - run 14.0 miles

I ran 8.0 miles on the treadmill with some hills thrown in. Then went home for about an hour and let Natalie go run. When she got home I set out on a 6 mile route from home. I knew I was running decent when I went thru mile 5 (or 13) in under 8 minutes, and I was running easy and relaxed. I then finished my last 2 (13 & 14) on a 8.05 pace with one big hill thrown in. I finished the 6 miles 2 minutes faster than I have ever run the route, and I definitely have never run 8 miles prior to running it.

Sat - 2/5 - Run 4.4 miles, Bike 12.0 miles

I did an easy brick today - 2.2 mile wu run, 12 mile bike on cycops (21.7 mph, 88 cad, 159 power, 138 HR), 2.2 mile run (7.31 pace - 6:47 last mile/2:59.75 last 1/2). There wasn't really any goal to this brick other than to get in 4 miles running and some bike mileage. This week's run focus has been on speed work at race pace or slightly better. And a scheduled long run of 14 miles tomorrow. Bike focus has been mileage at improved power wattage and at least one bike at race distance. If I hit the long run tomorrow I will have accomplished all focus points for this week. I did want to have my best bike week, which may still happen. But so far, so good.

Fri - 2/4 - run 6.0 miles, bike 22.0 miles

Biked 22 miles on cycops. 1.01:11 for 21.6 mph, 171 power, 87 cadence, and 141 HR. This is easily my best bike on the cycops. Pretty pathetic for my history but promising, I guess, for my future.

Ran 6.0 miles at YMCA. 2 mile wu, 5x1' @ 5.49 pace (HR 172ish), ~2 min jogs, 1x1/2 @ 5.49 pace (HR 176). 2 mile cd. The minute runs were very relaxed so I went longer on the last one. Even the 1/2 mile felt like I could have gone longer.

Wed - 2/2 - run 6.0 miles (6x400s)

Speedwork today.
wu) 1/2 mile (cold)

3x400 on the road in 1.18/1.15/1.18 - I cruised thru these. I had scheduled these to be 1.20-1.24 but I never felt like I was doing a pace I couldn't maintain and each one kept coming thru under.

wu) 1 mile

3x400 on YMCA treadmill. 5.39/5.39/5.36 paces which equates to about 1.25/1.25/1.24s. These were tougher b/c they were on the treadmill.

cd) 1.5 miles

Tues - 2/1 - bike 10.0 miles

Cycops bike - 10.0 miles, 22.4 mph, 172 power, 89 cad and HR 144.