Week 10 of 26

I thought I had an easier week this week. Technically, it was but it sure didn't feel like it.

I had a rest day on Monday and decided to make an appointment after work to donate blood. I've been putting this off for a while, being pre-occupied with my own training. But with recent happenings of accidents involving cyclists, people whom I know personally, I decided that this could no longer wait. After the appointment, I had the London Tri Club committee meeting. Typically this is the last meeting to wrap up some loose ends before the triathlon season starts.

Tuesday morning I had a swim session. I was a bit worried that I would faint in the pool after the blood donation the night before! But I felt alright - no dizziness or anything like that. 400m warm up, 400m pull buoy, 800m - 75m swim/25m 6 kicks-3 strokes, 400m pull buoy/paddles, 800m pull buoy, 400m swim. In the evening I rode for 75km. Tried something different and split my ride into a bit of west and east. Rode to Thorndale and back, and went all to way to Vanneck and return home. It was very, very windy! And the strong gusts! I was almost blown off my bike... a few times!

Wednesday was the first Splash N Dash for the season, held in Lake Whittaker. I went early and did an hour's easy run with Laura and Christian. We had a huge turnout this year, plenty of new faces, including Mike, who I have been corresponding a bit through Dailymile. The swim was made a tad bit longer to 850m per loop, so 1700m for the two loops. The run remained the same as 5.2km. When we started, I tried keeping up with Matt and Greg but they were going too quick, so I let them go. I settled into my own pace and on the 2nd loop of the swim, I was slowly gaining back on the front swimmers. Came out about 30 seconds behind and most of us were within striking distance as we started the run. I managed to overtake Greg about 1km into the run but I just didn't have the speed to reel Matt in. He got further and further. Still, I finished in 49:58 - swim was 27:33, run was 22:25 including transition. The first one is always going to hurt, so I'm glad to get that over and done with. Looking forward to going faster in the upcoming ones.

Thursday evening I did a 90km ride to Lakeside and back. It was also pretty windy but luckily it was more favourable on the way back. Friday morning I swam with some long sets. Main sets were 2000m swim (33:16) and 1000 pull buoy/paddles (16:12). I was surprised with how good I felt, even had doubts whether the pool was shorter that morning! In the evening, I did a weights/core session in the gym. Alternating between arms, legs and core with 30 repetitions at each station. Haven't been to the gym for nearly 4 weeks and muscles were feeling the burn!

Saturday's long ride came but my program had it shorter to 3.5 hours this week. I rode southbound through Vanneck. Once I got to Westdel Bourne, there were cars lining up, some really fancy ones, there must be an event going on. Which I later found out was the Fleetwood Car show. I rode on through Carriage Road and Mill Road, and when I returned, the line of cars were still there! This side of the road was more narrow and there was a point I had to get off my bike and walk it for a few hundred meters. That sort of ruined my momentum and the continuously blowing wind didn't help after. It wasn't very strong but it was constant and energy sapping. I took 15 minutes longer than expected to complete my 105km ride. Got changed and had a quick bite and went out for a 10km run. But felt just as mediocre as before. The run took me about two minutes longer than usual. But hey, these things happen sometimes so I'll just put them behind me and move on to the next session.

Sunday as usual, I delayed my run up until late afternoon. It was overcast whole day with a bit of rain just after midday. I watched the Lego movie, some pretty lame comedy but still pretty entertaining. I started my 2 hour run at 4.30pm. It was still overcast but the sun came up about 30 minutes after. I didn't have any intervals in the program but was keen to maintain the same average as last week - 4:30 per km pace. I missed out on my water stop and decided to keep going rather than turn back. So yeah, I ran for 2 hours without water! I was beginning to fatigue in my last few kms, so I was glad when it was all over. Again, 26.7km with a sub 4:30 average, so really happy! Next week's long run is 2 hours 15 minutes, so we'll see how I go.

I've signed up for my first triathlon of the season - Guelph Lake Olympic Distance in two weeks time! After last year's sub par performance in crappy weather, I'm looking forward to redeem myself!

Week 10 of 26 statistics

Swim - 8.7km (2 hours 30 minutes)
Bike - 272.1km (9 hours 12 minutes)
Run - 52.8km (4 hours 9 minutes)
Gym - 1 hour

Total - 333.6km (16 hours 49 minutes)