How about that post title? LOL i'm so full of crap. This past week was this first week I’ve ever had a tri coach. Bruce Gennari is going to be coaching me on what to do, and most importantly, what NOT to do. He warned me that I’d feel like I was training for a sprint and would be VERY frustrated doing my WOs in heart rate zone 2 (for me, that’s a max of 148 beats). Boy was he ever right, especially about running. Turns out, I can’t walk to my car in the garage without maxing out my HR at 148. The thought of running jumps it in the low 140s. In all seriousness, it seems that I can currently expect about 9 min miles on a flat terrain if I want to keep my HR at 148 or below (64%, not the traditional 70%; which makes it even harder). This is good news for all the guys I ride bikes with because it pretty much caps my speed at around 21mph (tested on an out/back on the Trace).
Turns out, I’m not nearly as fit as I thought I was. I do have good bike fitness, but my running fitness is horrible. I’m able to run for hrs with my HR in the 170s at relatively fast paces… but when it comes to going fast at low effort, I don’t have it. I guess I’ve trained my body to accept high HRs when running. This is going to change.
He also had me doing some swimming this week. Other than a couple dips, I hadn’t swam at all since August 2010. He had me do 3 pool WOs and 1 open water (OW) swim this week. Good news is, I adapted pretty quick to the distance and I’m no slower than last yr (as if that was even possible). I went from ZERO to over 10,000 yards in just one week. A buddy of mine, Jim Day, noted that I might suffer from a disease that he also has…. When we decide to do something, we tend to go overboard and be a little obsessive. In fact, Jim said I might have it worse than him. He might be right.
As far as the bike goes, I think I got a little UNDER 150 miles this past week. That’s about 53% less than a typical week. But, those swimming hours had to come from somewhere. I did cover nearly 1,500 miles in the past 5 weeks, so I guess that’ll satisfy me for a bit.
At any rate, it’s only been 7 days but I love having a list of WOs that I need to do in a week. Boy does it take away some stress. Why didn’t I listen to my friends last year? I don’t have to worry about “did I do enough,” or “did I do too little”, or “does triathlon include swimming?” It is a little emotional for me to give up some of my bike miles but I’m a triathlete, NOT a bike racer. I am confident that I did the right thing getting strong on the bike over the winter and now Bruce will help me keep that strength and make me a better swimmer.
20 weeks until Ironman. Lucas McCain keeps lowering our race goal (is this a couples event?). I think it started out as “let’s have fun for 16 hours and 59 mins” and now it’s somewhere around “I’ll never speak to you again unless you come in under 9 hours you sissy”…. I’m not sure what my goal is; somewhere in the middle of that I hope. I’ll just wait until he tells me. Love you Iron Brother.
If anyone reading cares, the past weeks stats are as follows: Swim 4:36, Bike 7:10, and run 3:34. I guess that’s about 15hrs and 20mins. I feel great. The WOs are spread pretty evenly over 7 days so it’s teaching me to deal with consistent volume. I like it.
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