The lunch workout is a swim again. 2000 yards, and with an emphasis on drills and technique. Today I did some catch up drills, some one arm strokin’, and some stroke count focus as part of my main set. By the end of the day Wednesday, I should normally be at or approaching 10,000 yards for the week. I like to hit 12,000 yards by week’s end.
Oh yeah, yesterday I noticed my regular swim jammers are one flip turn away from detonating into something crotchless, and since I already have a full wardrobe of that kind of stuff I decided to break out my skimpy little square leggers. I’ll refrain from pictures at least til I get in better race shape….
After work, it’s time to meet the group at the track or greenway for some run intervals. I’m following the interval protocol suggested by the Hanson Brothers marathon plan. For the first 7 weeks of the plan, the workouts are speed oriented. Total distance covered during the intervals is 3 miles with no interval longer than 1 mile. For today, I did a ½ mi, 2x1 mi, ½ mi. Pace is approximately 5k to 10k pace for these intervals. In the heat and humidity, this is a sufferfest and it’s a glorious feeling when each interval is over with and more so when the whole thing is done. For the final 8 weeks, the workouts are strength oriented. Total distance covered during those intervals becomes 6 miles, with no interval shorter than 1 mile and the pace slows to more like 10k to half marathon pace.
I also biked to the track and back. To be honest, this is pretty much trash mileage, but I figure if I’m training to do 140.6 miles of swimming, biking and running I should be able to ride or run to a workout rather than drive. It seems kind of pointless to drive to a workout if I can help it. Plus, it makes for a good warmup and cooldown.
Here’s my entire run mileage plan, which is a modified version of the Hanson Plan. Note, only the Monday and Sunday runs are not “brick” workouts. I ride before all the other ones. I believe lots of bricks per week to be a major advantage going into a triathlon.
The Hanson’s premise is to run often (6 days per week) and therefore refrain from a long run day (I believe they consider 18 miles or more long). I still believe in the long run, so to provide further torture I’ve adapted their run-often marathon plan to include long runs. God help my legs from falling apart. This is essentially the plan I used for Ironman Florida, and I had a pretty good day as a result. Cross your fingers that it works twice! Total hours of training today was a hair over 2 hours. Short but with some good intensity.
Special rare occasion dinner tonight! What normally would be salmon has been replaced by wahoo! My neighbor caught it and was nice enough to share. As wahoo is the fastest fish in the world (well, wahoo or sailfish…..I’m not sure anybody has set up a head-to-head race) I’m hoping this nice fishy will share his speed with me…..
By the way, I got a couple comments regarding how little I was eating from yesterday’s post. I should clarify that at this stage in my training I’m also trying to lose some weight. My target race weight is 155 lb (same as IMFL), so that means I have 12 lbs of Richter Kid that isn’t invited to Kona. The extra weight will be detrimental to performance in the hills and heat of the Big Island.
The other part of the diet that I should point out is what’s more important to me is what I eat when. Notice that the daily diet is carb rich early in the day, and that it gravitates to protein rich later in the day. I try to get my carb intake in early when the metabolism is boosted, and the protein in after my workouts for recovery. And I’m a big believer in time released proteins as you sleep, so hence the cottage cheese at bedtime. That said, I was so tired last night I collapsed in the bed without it. I was on the verge of dreaming when Angie barged into the room and said, “You didn’t eat your cottage cheese!!!!!” Ha! What a great sense of urgency! I love that she’s all in on this poker game just as I am!
And with that, it’s time to “elevate the pelvis” as my friend, Dave Mirra, calls it. G’night!
The plan the Hanson elites do actually has them doing 24-30 mile long runs in marathon training. The plan in their book and available online is for regular runners and peaks a long run at 18 I think. I think you're wise to do at least one 20 and possibly a 22-24 as your peak long run. I usually do 3-4 at 20, 22-24, 22, and 20 with at least 2 of those ending with half or more of it at goal marathon pace. Good nutrition plan you have going with what you eat and when you eat it. That is key!
ReplyDeleteWTF is "elevate the pelvis"??!! Is that when Angie is on top and you're power driving her from below?
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