half ironman training -- week 8

here is the breakdown from week 8 of my half ironman training. 

Week 8 // June 10 - 16

10 Swim 1400 yards w/ main set 8x75 sprints, RI = 20 Run 1 mile easy, 1.5 @ 5k pace, 1 mile recovery, 1 mile easy

11 Bike 50 minutes w/ 5x3 minutes hard efforts scattered

12 Swim 1400 yards swim w/ main set 2x300 race pace, RI = 20 Run 5.5 miles moderate w/ 4x10 second hill sprints

13 Bike 40 minutes moderate w/ 18 minutes comfortably hard

14 REST (or) Strength Train

15 Swim 2000 yards w/ main set 1500 yard time trial Run 13 miles moderate

16 Bike 55 miles moderate

monday breakdown: holy fatigue, batman! although my scheduled rest day was friday due to my work schedule, i moved things around to give me monday off. the weekend of training before was intense and my body felt it the next day! i was proud of myself for finally incorporating strength training into my plan. i did a short session of about 20 minutes of bench press, dead lift, squats, curls, and sit ups. my arms were still burning tuesday. yes...i realize how embarrassing that is.

tuesday breakdown: tuesday morning was a great cycling session. i've been noticing i'm getting a little quicker. today i knocked out 17.11 miles in 50:12 so it just a hair over a 20 mph pace. love it!

wednesday breakdown: i had a good training session wednesday morning. my swim was so-so....1400 yards in 26:28, but my 6 mile run felt pretty good and i finished that in 48:17. 

thursday breakdown: thursday was a pretty long day since i was determined to get in my "extra" workout due to my week being chaotic. i got in my 1400 yard swim in 25:59 and my 4 miler in under 8 minute miles, but i also managed to fit in my 40 minute bike ride and squeaked out about 12 miles. it was a loooong day, but totally worth it in the end. 

friday breakdown: REEEESSSTTT DAY!!! oh, and a 13 hour work day. whatevs...

saturday breakdown: i love the weekends! seriously...what better way to kick off a weekend with a nice 2000 yard swim and then running 13 miles. am i right or am i right. you might be thinking i'm being sarcastic, but i'm actually not. i love doing a couple hours of hard training early on a saturday. my swim felt great and i finished the 13 miler in 1:51:39. i honestly was really hoping for under 1:50:00, but i think i pushed it a bit hard on the swim before. 

sunday breakdown: wow! 55 miles on a bike is faaaaaaaaaaar. 55 miles in/on anything is far. holy crap. the weather was decent this morning as i got ready to head out, but i had a little tightness in my left leg that had me a bit nervous. i loaded up with water and some gels and took off. my route i made was insane. a lot of hills and head wind at first until it finally flattened out a little for the rest of the route. i surprisingly didn't feel too bad after i got the hard part of the route out of the way, but i battled some more wind toward the end. i took 3 quick breaks: the first one to put my freakin' chain back on, second one for a pee break, and another about 30 miles in to chug some water and swallow a gel. the final stretch of 15-20 miles went by pretty quick and getting home felt SO good. final time was 2:59:31 so maintaining an 18.3 mph average felt pretty good, too. 

weekly weigh-in:   175.9   on 6/2/13

previous weekly weigh-in:    174.9  

difference:   + 1   

total weight difference:   - 11.3