Weeks 5-7: Catching Up

It's been a busy few weeks, and the name of the game was flexibility.  A bunch of workouts got cut or moved around, but the upside was discovering that I'm getting (slightly) better at taking it all in stride.  Here's a quick recap of the past few weeks' training.  As always, more detailed recaps are on my dailymile page.

Week 5:

Swim -- 1.1 mi

Bike -- 47.5 mi

Run -- 18.0 mi

We had a big crew race on Monday, which meant that I didn't really get my rest day.  So I decided to skip Tuesday's ride and make that the rest day instead.

Hooray for awesome fan photographers!

Then Mom came to visit for the weekend!  Which meant that my Saturday morning long ride was followed by a trip to the other side of the river for eating, shopping, drinking, and more eating.

Amazing post-ride brunch. Yes, that is a pile of fries with ground up hamburger, egg, and cheese.

Mint Juleps & Kentucky Derby watching

Visit to the Boston Marathon memorial

Mom's flight didn't leave until Sunday evening, and I didn't realize that one of the pools was closed for an entire week (thanks, NCAA water polo tournament!) so I accidentally missed my chance for the Sunday swim.  But I at least still got the run in.

Week 6:

Swim -- 2.2 mi

Bike -- 54.3 mi

Run -- 14.5 mi

I had a big presentation on Thursday that I needed to prep for, so I skipped Wednesday's evening run.  I also flipped Saturday and Sunday because of predicted thunderstorms on Saturday.  Of course the storms never materialized, and it was still rainy on Sunday morning so I ended up on the trainer anyway (and cut the ride ten miles short because I couldn't stand the idea of 40 miles on the trainer).  But not a bad weekend of training.

Thursday evening post-presentation celebration

Week 7:

Swim -- 2.4 mi

Bike -- 65.5 mi

Run -- 16.1 mi

Friday's swim got pushed to Thursday because I knew I had to drive out to Woburn for a vet appointment on Friday, but otherwise the workouts stayed pretty much on schedule.

Of course my dog would end up in physical therapy.  Takes after me!

It wasn't a great running week for me, with two runs cut short thanks to stomach and foot trouble, but it was a big week for the swim and the bike.  On Saturday, I went for a 40 mile ride on real live roads with a few friends.  I hit 30+ mph on a downhill without cranking on my brakes the whole time, rode one-handed long enough to wipe my nose, check my pockets, etc., and did a tiny bit of a climb standing up on the pedals.  And also once again came very close to my first clip-out-fail fall but saved it at the last minute.  On Sunday, I swam a mile without any significant breaks and it wasn't terrible.  So I'm feeling a little less panicked about the swim now.

Snack break in Concord!

In other exciting news, I finally signed up for a pre-70.3 sprint triathlon!  Really happy I'll have the opportunity to try out open water swimming before the big day.

Escape the Cape

Really looking forward to a recovery week this week!

I also realized that I screwed up and started my plan a week early, so I'm trying to figure out how best to deal with that.  I might stick with the plan and add a bit more of a taper (the plan as is doesn't have much of one) but am open to suggestions ...