Finally a SOLID week of training
I was finally able to string together a solid week of uninterupted training. This marks the first week where I felt solidly strong. I'm not saying I'm in race shape but, I'm slowly getting there. I had a big swim session on Friday that I crushed and was fired up about. For the first time ever I swam a few hundreds without thinking about my stroke. This is huge because all that I think about while I swim is my stroke. It was very relaxing just to swim in a mentally relaxed state. One question that did pop up while swimming was in the middle of my main set. I swam the first half of them with a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 3-4. I thought I was working too hard and shifted my focus to my form and technique. Amazingly my RPE went down and my splits decreased. I was working less and going faster! So the question I have is how to judge my pace while racing. Obviously I'm not going to be able to check my watch while in the open water so I'm wondering how to judge my pace. I want to put the minimum effort in to go the fastest possible. I'm guessing I will have to start swimming without my watch or have someone else time me to develop a feel of time vs effort in the water.
"Do you want the next block to be focused on the bike or the run?" - Matt
"My gut feeling is to shift focus to the run." - Me
As a result my volume of running has increased. I was a little worried as to how my body was going to respond. Would I develop a severe level of fatigue? How would my legs respond? How would this impact my other sessions? On the flip side I was very excited to work on my running. Like mentioned in earlier blogs I'm not a runner so I was eagerly excited to work on an obvious weakness. To my delight my body has responded very well and my legs feel very fresh and have plenty of pop. There are a few races coming up in March that I'm looking forward to testing myself in. There is the Caumsett 25K, Kings Park 15k and the Suffolk County Half. Hopefully I can run at least two of these. The race at Caumsett has caught my interest because it is somewhat on the trails and in a beautiful location. I only hear very good things about the Kings Park 15k plus there will be a lot of familiar faces running the race. Although the Suffolk Half is nothing to write home about, it would be nice to bang out a half marathon, at least to say I did a "half marathon".
Best part about finishing up this week was going to a "Ride N Shine" class with my Dad. I had invited him to the class a few times last year but I have a feeling he was a little timid and unsure of his abilities. Fast forward a year later and he is more than capable in skill and quality. He definitely put in a solid effort in the class and really enjoyed it. And to top it off we just signed up for two Sprints races, Great South Bay and Smith's Point. The 2012 season has officially started. These two races can't come soon enough and he is already in better shape and has a better understanding of triathlon than last year!
"Do you want the next block to be focused on the bike or the run?" - Matt
"My gut feeling is to shift focus to the run." - Me
As a result my volume of running has increased. I was a little worried as to how my body was going to respond. Would I develop a severe level of fatigue? How would my legs respond? How would this impact my other sessions? On the flip side I was very excited to work on my running. Like mentioned in earlier blogs I'm not a runner so I was eagerly excited to work on an obvious weakness. To my delight my body has responded very well and my legs feel very fresh and have plenty of pop. There are a few races coming up in March that I'm looking forward to testing myself in. There is the Caumsett 25K, Kings Park 15k and the Suffolk County Half. Hopefully I can run at least two of these. The race at Caumsett has caught my interest because it is somewhat on the trails and in a beautiful location. I only hear very good things about the Kings Park 15k plus there will be a lot of familiar faces running the race. Although the Suffolk Half is nothing to write home about, it would be nice to bang out a half marathon, at least to say I did a "half marathon".
Best part about finishing up this week was going to a "Ride N Shine" class with my Dad. I had invited him to the class a few times last year but I have a feeling he was a little timid and unsure of his abilities. Fast forward a year later and he is more than capable in skill and quality. He definitely put in a solid effort in the class and really enjoyed it. And to top it off we just signed up for two Sprints races, Great South Bay and Smith's Point. The 2012 season has officially started. These two races can't come soon enough and he is already in better shape and has a better understanding of triathlon than last year!
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