I love weeks which start out crappy and get better as they progress. This week was just like that.
I had a decent bike/run brick on Monday but everything fell apart on Tuesday while swimming. It wasn't really my fault but more of all the other people in the pool. One guy seemed like he was waiting for me every time just to push of the wall 2 seconds before me which meant that I now have to somehow overtake him (I was quite faster then him) in a pool of 6 (!!) people. This was of course slowing me down and breaking my rhythm so much that it drove me nuts.
Then another guy who thought he was some kind of elite swimmer always swam in the center of the lane flailing his arms like a mad man. I just tried to do my thing and get it over as quick as possible but it just became to annoying so I stopped after 55 minutes and 2.7 kilometers which is OK.
The other swim of the week was much better since I was in a lane with a few regulars and we got along pretty well. If I was faster the guy in front of me would wait on the turn for me (by wait I mean wait 2-3 seconds since I was already pretty close to his feet) and then just continue after I pushed of the wall. Same thing goes for me as well. If you are faster I will gladly wait a few seconds and let you do your thing since this way we all will have a better training. I'll for sure cover some triathlon etiquette tips in one of the next posts since it's just a simple and easy topic but many fail to use their brain.
Apart from the swim episodes the rest of the week was quite smooth. I did a nice long(ish) run on Saturday (2 hours and almost 25 km) and my regular long bike ride (4 and a half hours for 103 km). One of the next weekends will see me getting quite close to the 180 km since I will be riding some 140+ km.
This week I will take part in my first triathlon which will be in Slovenia. I can't wait to see how I'll perform but I know for sure that either way I will be even more focused on pushing myself harder.
While compiling a list of all the training I did last week I found out that I covered 199.56 km on the bike. If I knew that I would have pushed for some 400 more meters just to cross the 200 km mark but all in all I am quite pleased with my numbers.
Let's have a look at them now:
| Distance | Time | Pace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swim | 6.2 km | 2:09:00 h | 2:05 min / 100 m |
| Bike | 199.56km | 7:49:39 h | 2:21 min / km |
| Run | 34.25 km | 2:54:34 h | 5:05 min / km |
I have switched from min / km to min / 100 m for the swim part since it gives a much better measure of speed. Usually swim a 1:20-1:25 time where I am more in the range of 1:50-2:00 which is quite nice actually. If I factor in the wetsuit and sea water I will be swimming in this might turn out to be quite a nice speed for me on the Ironman race.
Also I am quite happy with my 5:05 min / km split for the run since that's the time I am aiming for on the race. I hope I am not to ambitious but I rally think that I can run the course easily in under 4 hours. Wish me luck :)
The total distance covered is like the following:
| Distance | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Swim | 119.00 km | 46:19:00 h |
| Bike | 2188.05 km | 95:53:27 h |
| Run | 535.50 km | 44:25:52 h |
Until next week, keep your fingers crossed for me on Saturday :)