Bigger miles

Week 10, is the start of my big miles weeks. My rides are longer (and now also contain a run) and my swims tougher, but with all this extra training, comes an increase in fatigue. I can handle the extra miles, but stuff up time management of sleep, stretching and proper eating, life for the next few weeks will be hell. I've been good so far, but it's kinda sad when you're struggling to try and make it past the kids bedtime.

The week was good with a couple of things I picked up on that I need to work on.

First off, I need to better seed myself at swimming. Now this is nothing new, but I've found myself at a couple of sessions lately where I'm not pushing myself hard enough. If I want to do better come May 1, then I need to push harder. Sitting in a group, to do the swim doesn't cut it when you're not working hard. Sure you get the miles in, but you need the strength/speed work to go with it. So starting this week, I'm going to work really hard at ensuring I seed properly.

The other thing I've noticed is the power on the bike. (now Srogg's before you go changing the odds, keep reading mate). Today was a great example. It was a 4.5 hour ride through the rollers, a climb up Mount Mee and out along the bay. I seem to take a good hourish (sometimes longer) to warm up. But once I do, I can sit on top of gears and push some good speed out of it. I struggled a bit out to Daybrough through the rollers, but once I started to climb Mount Mee, I was in a zone. Up I climbed with the smiling assassin in what was a relatively easy effort, a quick gel and down we went. I'm handling the down hills better and better which is a great confidence booster. Back out to Petrie and I looked down at our average. Even though we had a good 30 minute climb up the mountain somehow we still managed to average over 28kms an hour to this point. From here it's pretty much flat with a couple of rollers. I was feeling good still and even when we got into it I was able to hold my own and not blow up. In a few spots we were averaging over 50kms/hr on the smooth flat road which was an awesome feeling. Coming back in, I was feeling great and had what seemed some gas in the tank. Although my ride was good, the 45 minute run off the bike was tough, very tough. I managed to get it done but it wasn't something to proud of.

What I need to do now, is ensure that I keep on these brick workouts and stick with the running, no matter how hard it is. If I can master running off the bike well after a long ride, it will pay dividends come race day.

That's about it for me. Back on the bike in the morning for a tough wind trainer session with a quick run off the bike. I might take it a bit easier towards the end of next week as I've entered in a half ironman up at Noosa which I hope to do well at. Too much pressure from the guys to not give it a fair go.

Totals for the week were:
Swim was 9.7kms
235kms on the bike
46.5kms on the run
Core for 45 minutes

All in 16.5 hours

Safe training and see you out there.
Rich