Ironman Arizona: Week 16

Can I hear it for RECOVERY WEEK?! All caps is the Internet version of my high school cheerleading past (guilty as charged).

Week 16 fell perfectly as I had a big launch at work and I needed a little down time. Here’s how the week went down:

Mon., 3/19: Swim

2,100 yards, with the now normal fist and catch-up drills, and a 500, 400, 300, 200, 100 ladder as the main set. After Sunday’s big double brick/wind workout, my legs were pooped and I gave them a little rest by opting out of that evening’s run workout.

Tues., 3/20: Run

“Pre Race Prep Run.” One of the many great things about having a coach is that the assigned workouts have a very specific purpose. In the past, I probably took far too many rest days leading up to a race, when in actuality I needed to run specific workouts with specific purposes. Tuesday’s run was just that. Here’s what Coach Paul prescribed:

10′ @ HR Zone 2
8 x 1′ FAST RUN INTERVAL (1′ EASY JOG RI)
Run each 1′ Fast Intervals as fast as you can while maintaining good form. IMPORTANT: Pace yourself, so you can run the last interval as fast as the first interval. Maintaining good form is far more important that pace.
2′ WALK
10′ RUN @ HR Zone 2
2′ WALK Cool Down

Couple with some core work and I was feeling good.

Wed., 3/21: Cycle

Same as every Wednesday, cycled while watching Smash. I may or may not have also consumed an entire bag of my all-time favorite Easter candy. But can you blame me?

Random factoid: Reese’s Pieces have ZERO chocolate. Just “peanut butter” and a candy shell.

Thurs., 3/22: Swim

Thursdays are usually rest days, but I opted to move my Wednesday swim to Thursday. 2,100 yards with a hefty drill circuit and then 3 x 400 as the main set.

Fri., 3/23: Cycle

Because of the race on Sunday, I had a nice little hour long ride scheduled for Friday morning. Simon and I planned on meeting for a quick ride before work. However, I failed to take into consideration not only what time sun actually rises these days, but how FREAKING COLD it is to ride your bike in the early a.m. hours.

Simon, an Ironman finisher himself, was fantastic though. He gave me a boatload of cycling hand-me-downs (including these lobster claw gloves), listened to me complain about how I couldn’t feel my fingers for the first half of the entire ride, and then spent the remained of the ride answering my novice questions and helping me practice me in aero.

Sat., 3/24: Run

When I looked at my schedule and saw a 25 minute run I thought, “Oh how lovely. A nice little pre-race jog.” I quickly looked at the workout on my way out the door and saw:

25′ Run @ HR 2-3 with 15 x 15” LVL8 Pick Ups (45” Easy Jog RI). That would mean 15 FULL OUT SPRINTS for 15 seconds each. I questioned this workout but just went with it.

However, when I re-checked the workout later, I realized that it was actually 5 x 15 second sprints. 5 not 15! Genius…I know.

Sun., 3/25: Oakland Half Marathon

The big PR race that was so close, but no cigar. You can read the recap here!

Look, Ma! Both feet off the ground!

I closed out week 16 with:

6 hours and 21 minutes of training:
4,593.2 yards swimming 
30 miles cycling 
22.3 miles running  
15 minutes core strengthening

How was your training week? What’s your Easter candy of choice?

Happy Running!