Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Week 14: Realization

Summary of Week 14
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Training Goal: Maintain pace as last week threshold and lactate session
Personal Goal: Salvage training
Distance Covered: All Activities: 103.59 km
Duration: All Activities: 12h36m
Elevation Gain: 542m
Overall Training Completion Rate (Actual Vs Planned):
87.2%

Swim Time:
3h17m
Swim Distance:
6.25km

Bike Time:
4h31m
Bike Distance:
66.63km
Elevation Gain:
390m
*For indoor bike - time measurement only and some (insignificant) distance may be recorded
**Including brick (none this week)

Run Time:
3h25m
Run Distance:
30.71km
Elevation Gain:
120m
*Including brick (none this week)

Time Spent Doing Strength/Core/Stability Exercises:
1h19m
*Including rest/chit chat

Time Spent Stair Climbing (ascent):
2m20s
Elevation Gain:
32m
*Based on what was recorded only

Unaccounted for
~ foot workout
~ run drills/warm up/cool down
~ Stair descent



Training Notes for Week 14:

1) Swim this week was quite ok. Testing out lower arm entry position as if I'm digging. Again feels fast but records showed otherwise. Starting to feel like swim training is going to plateu. Fear that it could even revert to slower pace. Maybe it's just a feeling. Didn't complete the full set of Thursday and Friday swim. I think this could very well be the reason that things are plateuing. I've skipped too much drills but I'm left with little choice.

2) Again time is an issue that I have to factor in for this week's bike workout. Did the main set and just cut short on the cool down. Thursday bike ride was quite ok and intense. Due to rain had to skip saturday's bike ride. I felt like I needed the break anyway.

3) Intervals during the haze was pretty tough. It was hot, humid and my legs were still sore from previous long run. Just stuck in and pushed hard. Almost fainted. Foundation run again turned to tempo. But this time deliberately. Ran to a pretty solid pace which if I can sustain for another 11km would see me break that sub 2 hr half marathon. Working towards that and hopefully by October 2016 it'll happen. On Friday did another cadence tempo trying to hit 170 spm which was pretty tough.

4) Brick bike was good. Run not so much. I guess I've used up all energy trying to sustain a reasonable speed on the bike. Worth it though.

5) Overall, metrics are improving and feeling pretty good. All the efforts leads to small gains but as long as I'm improving then I just have to believe in the program.

Feeling Notes for Week 14:

1) I enjoyed this week eventhough I had to reschedule most of my workouts. But it's ok. I could've been working out and having fun but I'm glad I spent some time with the kids. Fina had fever and it was unfortunate, so she was sleepy and weak. For someone who's active it really was sad to see. The parade was a first for us and it was memorable. I was so worked up with how I would salvage this week's training but it turned out ok. The trick is to not plan to far ahead, be flexible and just accept that sometime you just can't fit everything in.

2) Things are heating up and I still haven't done most of the logistics work for IM. I'm going to start sorting that out ASAP and also getting others things done. I am slowly realizing the cost of it all. There's going to be a massive dent in my bank account. So I decided to stop buying things and joining races and save for the big race.

3) Having done plenty of non triathlon things puts everything in perspective. It's a realization that if you spend too much time obsessing about training etc., it could take precedence over stuff that really matters. Yes, you are training for an Ironman but the world doesn't revolve around that.

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4) There are also a lot of bad races going on right now and I'm glad I limit joining any races especially those with proven bad track records. I mean, triathlon is quickly becoming a capitalist sport. The equipment, the entry fee, logistics cost etc. is really, really high.

5) Nothing much or new to write really. Getting lazy / tired I guess. I think I need a change of scenery. I am seriously considering training for an ultra in 2017. I have to see how the first one goes and adjust my expectation.

6) I'm feeling faster but not as fast as the other guys. Judging by race results there seems to be a higher bracket of athletes hitting crazy numbers. I don't know if I'll ever get there. But I am smashing all of my PR so I just have to keep on going and realize whatever potential I have.

7) 66 days to Ironman Langkawi.

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