February has come and gone. In a descent groove with training overall. Putting in some good work, running is coming around and power remains strong on the bike. Later in the week I think I scheduled more bike training than my legs were capable of. I just mentally and physically was crushed, so I backed off. "Live to fight another day". But going a little easier, it meant that I could push harder in my next quality session. But at the same time putting in enough training load not to go backwards. I think it's those little decisions that add up. Skipping the workout altogether would create an element on inconsistency, whereas easing back a little, just allows more recovery, but still provides some stimulus. I think what's hurting my bike, is the increase in run training. To reach the next level in bike fitness, I'll have to wait until May-July when my run training load peaks and levels off and I'm able to put in some good bike work in better isolation from the run fatigue.
Training mix - I've plateaued swimming, and think I'm better off adding or increasing the duration of my recovery rides on the bike, or add a short tempo ride, rather than swimming more. SO looking at my strengths and weaknesses, I think to a maintenance level of focused, consistent swimming 3 days a week will keep me where I'm at, which is a strong swimmer, but not a fast swimmer. I've resigned myself a little bit that I'm not going to become a 55' swimmer. But if I can comfortably swim 58-60' it's not a liability. I know last summer I had a lot of junk yards overall I think. Unfocused, changing my workouts based on how I felt that day and overall just wasting time. Why did I do it? IT was out of fear. Fearing the unknown. My greatest concern going into IMWI was that swim. I knew I was a strong cyclist and strong runner, I had proven that. But I've had sub par swims and had never swam that far in open water. It was intimidating to me. I wasn't sure what to expect with the mass start. Similarly, some of the same fears are there and motivated my to focus on the swim with Kona on the distant horizon. No wetsuit (not that I need one) to level the playing field a little, and everyone is fast. It will be crowded, intimidating, yet very exciting to share the course with so many talented athletes. Then I fear the traffic out on the bike. Getting a drafting penalty again or being force to put in huge efforts to get past traffic.
But I'm over that a little. I've made some gains on the swim, but looking at my bike potential, I feel like there more power to be found. That gaining another 5-10 Watts on my FTP from the improvements I've already made, can get me close to some of the faster cyclists in the AG field. I can't say that about running at this point. Can I run faster? Yes, but I can only train so much running before I break down I've found out.... the hard way. If I can get in 2 high quality rides, 1 longer ride and another tempo ride combined with 2 long recovery rides, I'll be in good position. Heading into summer, I'll add a few medium distance rides, and dial back to just a single higher intensity ride and as much Z1-2 recovery rides as I can fit in reasonably.
This coming weekend I have a 15k race. I'm not in to run form by any means, so it will be more a pride run, and just to test where I'm at now. I'm thinking running just under 1 hour, around 6:30-6:45 pace. It will be hard to let the leaders just go, knowing that if i was in shape, I could hang fairly close. My wife will be doing her 1st 5k. I'm very proud of her. Despite challenges, she's stuck fairly close to the training plan I gave her and is coming along well. I think she can run under 40:00, but we'll see how it goes.
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