Rest Week (IM Arizona).....
On that note, I've always had a true loathing for cheats, dopers or shady people in general. Couple things this weekend got me thinking about this a little more. First things first...what's with the drafting. I mean seriously...are the rules that hard to live by?
For 07, I'm trying something new and have decided to forgo any racing until IMAZ. Ultimately, this leading to better prep mentally and physically. From what I'm hearing though...I'm not missing much on the racing front. Sounds like a bunch of athletes who can't step up and race head-to-head or "within the rules". I heard so much crap about the race this weekend, it makes me laugh.
I won't even get into the worst but I will tell you right now, that crap better not happen when I'm around. I've got no tolerance for that business. All of the athletes I race with, and keep as friends fly in a straight line. Every last one of us would rather DNF than resort to a cheating mentality. I've always believed that "Your only as good as the company you keep". Lived by this for a long time and it has served me well. Although I can always trust my friends to race fare....there's always that one clown that won't.
Let's hope this is nothing more than a few minor hiccup's during the early season months.
On the doping front, there's really nothing to talk about that hasn't been discussed before. I just thought I would make my opinion VERY CLEAR!!!! There's always going to be...a never ending struggle with performance enhancing drugs in our sport.
I won't get into any details but I've been hit in every single direction with this crap. Every time I hear about it, I just want to throw up. I work hard and I mean hard to get better in this sport. I have never...I will never...and couldn't afford if I wanted too....use anything illegal in my life. So don't even bother bringing it up when I'm around.
............................................
On the training front. I've outlined another week below with lots of details. So sit back and grab a snack. Lots of interesting stuff. I went through some highs and lows this week....took a day off and hit some benchmark numbers I've never seen before.
The focus going into this week was to recover from the build and base period. Relax and get my mind set for the final 4 weeks were top priority. It was pretty tough the first 4 days as the down time had me pretty fatigued and out of sorts. In the end....everything worked out fine and I'm very excited for the structure going forward....nice and focused.
Monday:
Well, I finally had to do it. Take a day off. Not because I wanted to, but because it was needed. Over the past several weeks and months...I've developed quite a bit of fitness. Now, the trick is soaking up all that hard work.... Dave was pretty adamant about me recharging the batteries one last time before my run into IMAZ. If he hadn't offered up his insight...I might not have taken the rest.
I actually took a 3 hour nap today. That was fun! Since I wasn't tired, I just took a hot shower and that pretty much did the trick. The heat always seems to do the trick. I slept so well. It turns out that today's zero was a well deserved treat!
Next few weeks should be interesting....
Tuesday & Wednesday:
Workout's were pretty low-key. Easy swim and bike on Tuesday. Easy Swim and Run on Wednesday. Taking time off seems to make you pretty tired as I found out on Thursday.
Thursday:
Key Run today. 8 miles build to Steady / IM Pace...7 miles negative split or build to IM+ Pace...move into a 2 mile easy cool-down. No HR monitor...straight PE. Temperature was 82 degrees today, almost no wind and not one cloud in the sky. In fact, I think today was one of the first warmer days of the year. Nice adjustment and good preparation for IMAZ. Details of workout below....
- 8 miles build to steady (1:02:20)
- 7 miles @ IM+ pace (51:46) (Key was to negative split each mile at this point) Miles were: 7:39, 7:33, 7:30, 7:24, 7:18, 7:13, 7:09
- 2 miles steady to cool-down (16:40)
17.1 miles in 2:11:00
.5 mile walk to relax and take in some good nutrition. Soak up some sun!
Nutrition: Worked with everything today. Coke, Gatorade Endurance, PowerBar Gel.
The run was awesome and interesting at the same time. Taking the 3 days down actually brought out some aches and pains I didn't know were there. Since Monday, my Sciatic Nerve on the left side has been giving me a couple issues (just in the hip area). Also, the down time has actually got me pretty tired. Weird....you'd think I'd have more energy. Oh well, I'm sure the fatigue will disappear after today.
Well, the fatigue is all gone. I think the run snapped it out of me. I took about 2 hours to relax after the run, and went out for an easy / steady bike to loosen up the legs. The ride was awesome and even ran into a couple fellas putting in some work. I opted to jump in for the fun and see if I could break things up a bit. There's nothing like a little friendly competition to get the blood boiling. Riding alone for the past few months, I've forgotten what that's like. After a while, I started to get a little tired and asked myself why I was pushing this sort of pace. My brain starting working at this point and I opted to pull back and finish the ride relaxed. All in all, it was fun as I haven't been up to really high race pace speeds in a while. I tell you one thing....this season is gonna be interesting.
Friday:
(Swim) Nice and structured today. Felt really strong and excited about a solid set. Structure is listed below along with leave and finish times..
- 27x100 (20 on 1:30, finishing on 1:18 - 1:20 / 7 on 1:25, finishing on 1:17)
- 200 stroke
- 2x50 free
- 2x500 on 7:30 (finishing each on 6:45, 6:46)
- 500 Cool-down
- 200 pull
- 200 kick
- 100 free
4500 yards total, 1 hr 11 mins.
(Run) Nice and easy on the treadmill immediately after the swim. Felt fine. Sciatic Nerve felt great. Calve was a little tight. Probably because my gait was off during yesterdays run.
Saturday:
(Bike) Intention was to ride 5:30 today as steady with a transition run. Well, after about 90 minutes I knew my mind just wasn't with it. There are just some days where you just don't have it. It was super cloudy, windy and I just hated every minute of that ride. Anyway, I decided to bag the ride and end it early. Total Ride Time: 2:35 / 51.2 miles.
(Swim) After the botched bike, I decided I'd go to the pool and turn out a strong set. The shortened ride set me up pretty nice for a solid swim. I went into the workout fresh...clear headed and excited to turn something special out. Structure is listed below along with leave and finish times..
- Ironman Distance, 4200 straight in 58:12 (Fastest to Date) Clearing 500's in 6:59, 6:58, 6:52, 6:52, 6:54, 6:56, 6:55, 6:57....Last 200 in 2:45
- 200 Stroke
- 300 Pull
- 300 Kick w/Fins
- 6x50 leaving on :45 / finishing on :39
- 100 free easy to end the session.
5600 yards total, 1 hr 22 mins
Thanks to my trusty Timex OVA Watch, along with the clock on the wall...I was able to capture all my 500's clearly throughout the set. What kind of an athlete would I be if I didn't plug up my sponsors. Honestly...the watch is awesome.
This truly was an awesome swim. I've never cleared the hour mark in the pool. Last time I did a 4200 yard straight set (26 days ago)...I was a tad over the hour at 1:00:12. Therefore, that makes me 2 minutes faster today at 58:12. What was interesting about today's swim was the extra 1400 I did afterwards. I just had a lot of energy. Anyway, I can't complain about this one. This will definitely be something to build on with hopes of bringing this down a touch before IMAZ.
Enough about that...I'm just happy with the progress taking place and I wanted it well documented for future reference.
(Run) The run was nothing really to talk about. Easy 15 minutes on the treadmill immediately after the swim. That's It....
Sunday:
(Bike) Decided to head over to Plano and ride with Wilk. Yep, Mr. Bicycle himself.... We opted for a steady-hard ride around Lake Lavon. The day was nothing short of hard. Overcast all day long and the winds were gusting up to 30mph. Adam rode away a couple times as I always refuse to ride on someone' s wheel. He also drug his TT bike out. Yeah, I know...me on my road bike...he didn't even give me a chance. In the end...it was both of us putting down work the entire time. The ride was cool...I haven't ridden with Adam in a long time and it was a very nice change of scenery. Total Time: 2:36 / 52.8 miles
I was going to head to the pool and take an easy run but I dranka bunch of caffeine today...and am officially crashing out. I've got an some exciting weeks coming up and I really want to nail all the key workouts. Therefore...the week officially ends now...
Talk to you next week.
posted by Mark Gingrich at 8:07 PM
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