Week 15
Planned: 11:40 total hours (1:30 swim, 6:25 bike, 3:45 run)
Completed: 11:41 hours (1:35 swim, 6:21 bike, 0:00 run, 3:45 crosstrain)
So it's finally happened - that eating-everything-in-sight-and-still-losing-weight thing. OK, not sure that I'm actually losing weight but I think I'm getting skinnier, since at least 3 people have asked if I'm on a special diet for the race. It's kind of fun … but I also wonder what would happen if I actually did eat healthy. Would I lose a few pounds of fat and make my run easier? On the other hand, eating like I have a tapeworm is really a lot of fun.
That was the plus side of this week. On the other side - not the down side, just the other side - this weekend had two long, grueling workouts. A 65-mile course preview, which I probably pushed a little harder than I should've (especially the last 15 miles or so) but was great to have done. Totally didn't anticipate how great it would be to have seen the course before the race. I figured it was long and flat, how much would I learn from actually riding it? Now that I've done it, though, I think it's going to help a lot - just knowing where I am on the course, how much farther I've got, and when it gets crazy-monotonous. Plus the run course overlaps the bike course a bunch, so that was a big, big bonus.
Then this morning I had a 2 hour run - aka 2 hours on the elliptical. It was agony. I totally didn't think I would make it, and honestly if I'd been on a run I think I would've ended up walking a ton. But I pushed through it somehow. The last half hour was just brutal, and I kept thinking that this is what the Eagleman run is going to feel like. I'm getting worried that I won't be able to do it.
I'm planning on trying to run on Tuesday. That's going to be huge. If I can get through 2 miles pain-free then I'm back in business. Not a full volume, but at least I can start. If it hurts, though, I'm probably off running for another 2 weeks. Could be a make-it-or-break-it moment.
The 2 big “a-ha's” that I want to remember about this week's training …
Number 1: As long and grueling as the course preview ride was, the moment I saw the finish line it all vanished. The race will be just like that, and I need to remember that if I push through the pain it will all be in the past - and worth it - once I cross that line.
Number 2: My elliptical today was agony, but as bad as it felt I kept going and I did it. Even if the Eagleman run does feel like that, I can slow down and keep going and make it through. It doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to get done.