Training Summary Week 35

Week 35 was my last big week in preparation of next week's Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis, MN. 4 weeks ago, after the Pigman Triathlon I decided I wanted to up my volume through this week and then back off for this race in hopes of a time drop. I feel good about how I stuck to that plan. I probably sacrificed some time at the QC Triathlon and Hy-Vee by keeping the volume up but I know that time drops come after rest following hard blocks of training. I finished this last hard week with my highest volume ever. My total training time was 30 hours and 30 minutes. For the week I ran 57 miles in 5 days of running, Biked 220 miles, and swam 20,200 yards. In addition to those totals I lifted weights 3 times, did core work 4 times, plyometrics and lunges once each, and speed drills and strides 3 times each. On Sunday I did my longest run of the year since the achilles injury of 14 miles. On Saturday I got my longest bike ride in at 82 miles. I did the ride after running the Firecracker Classic in East Moline with Jen. She won the women's 10k race in just under 40:00 on a course that was almost 1/4 mile long due to a mess up on the final turn. It was fun running with her and watching her do so well. I was in the pool over 8 hours this week working hard on my discipline that needs the most work. I did a hard hill workout on the bike Tuesday and followed it up with a tough group ride on Wednesday. It was actually quite fun riding in a group although I have to admit it scared the crap out of me because I was way out of my comfort zone in the drafting mode. I saw my wattages on the bike change dramatically as I moved up the pace line. I was typically around 130 watts while drafting in the easy row, and then it moved to 180 when I moved to the harder line. As I moved up the line it went up quite a bit. When I was 2nd in line I was over 300 watts and when I took the short turns leading it was up over 500 watts. It was really more like an interval workout. I'm thankful for having good guys help me out learning the order of the pace line.

I'm excited to rest up for this race next weekend. It will be a very tough field once again...similar to what I raced against at Hy-Vee. I'm hoping for a top 10 finish and another Olympic Distance personal best time. I'd like to go under 2:03. To do that I need to have a much faster swim than I had at Hy-Vee. This will be a very easy week of training in hopes that it leads to my best race yet...I would label this my first "A" race...the first time this year I'll be tapering for a race. I can't wait! DREAM BIG!