And now begins the real training

With the Boulder Peak being my last triathlon before Wisconsin, my training this week started being Ironman focused. I did do the Stroke & Stride again on Thursday (but only because it was on my plan) and once again got my butt kicked. I did meet my goal of doing it under an hour (57:46) but I really doubt I had any increase in speed. My 5k did go from 27:40 to 27:19 but I know my swim didn't really get faster by 5 minutes. That's the problem with swim courses - the buoys move around and they are never the same length in any race. I had an epiphany out on the second lap of the swim though that might help the next time. The last leg of the lap is directly into the sun and it's impossible to see the one buoy. I realized I could sight of the top of the building behind the swim area and my second lap was much smoother than the first.

This weekend really brought on the volume training. I rode with Swift to Jamestown and then convinced a couple of (yes, much older) guys to ride with me out to Hygiene. When we got back to South Boulder, I still had half an hour left to make my time, so I rode to Marshall by myself. That put me at 60 miles in 3 1/2 hours. I was supposed to do 40 minute run afterwards but the heat really got me. By then it was 1:00 and 95 degrees in the shade and most of my run wasn't in the shade. My first mile downhill was ok, but the next 2 did not go well. I couldn't keep my heart rate under 165 bpm and that was even at an 11:30 pace. I did a lot of walk breaks and later congratulated myself on not pushing it and getting heat stroke.

I was afraid of having a similar experience when my sisters and I made a run date at 2:30 on Sunday. But we got very very lucky. Almost as soon as we started running, there was a good rainstorm (and hardly any thunder) and we got soaked. And then it stayed overcast for the rest of the run. We were up north at Teller Farm, it looked much hotter and drier in South Boulder, where I probably would have run on my own. And I swear, the second I hit the stop button at 1:33 (and 8.8 miles) the sun came out and it was instantly 15 degrees warmer. Becky took this shot of me and Laura:



And then we got back to the car and I realized that the key I so painstakingly took off my key chain was to my minivan, and not to Jeremy's car. I rarely lock my car, but I had left my purse in there so I thought it was a good idea to lock it. My poor sisters had to drive me home and back again. But I'm glad I did it with them and it wasn't too much trouble, you can be sure than every time I take a key off now I will double check if it has the Honda or Toyota symbol on it!

I'm adding a few pictures to my Boulder Peak race report, fyi.

Swim: 7184 yards
Bike: 138 miles
Run: 19.5 miles

Total: 14:45