Measured Gains: Competing with Myself

This was a week to compete with myself. It was a measure of progress, my own progress. Not anybody else's or how I compared to anybody....BUT ME! I wasn't sure how this week was going to shake out. I was looking forward to this week, but also unsure of how it would all end. I'm happy to say that it ended MUCH better than I expected.

What's so special about this week....TESTS! Yep, even in triathlon there are tests. These tests are intended to judge progress and in my life, progress builds confidence. There was the Half Marathon, a swim test, and a bike test.

The half marathon was a PR, an early season PR...it wasn't picture perfect...but maybe I had drawn the wrong picture for this race day. It was a PR and another measured gain. I'll take that. So far of the 4 half marathons I've ran, 3 of them have been PR'
s.

After pushing hard on the half, I was sore...walking down the steps backward sore! When I looked at the training schedule I wondered how I was ever going to finish a swim or a bike test. Here is where having a coach is TOTALLY worth it. I'm sure she anticipated the soreness, and planned accordingly. A easy 30 minute spin on the bike (which turned out to be a 60 min ride with Mason...Priceless!) helped, but I was still sore. A day off...yep still sore.

Then came Tuesday night...Coach has me in the water. I love swimming after running, it really helps the legs. After the swim I was still sore, but Wednesday morning was a bike ride to flush out the legs and get ready. Wednesday was the first day I wasn't sore.

Wednesday I took off work! Reagan had field day, and I wanted to help out. In the morning, Reagan and I went to the YMCA...she enjoyed kids time, I hit the pool. After the warm up sets, and some sprints it was time for the swim test. This was the first time since February that I've done a swim test. The test is simple...10 x 100 yard, with 10 sec rest. Record the times and report the average. Holy Cow! the average dropped by 7.5 seconds. After not focusing on the swim and changing some things in my stroke...I was totally shocked! My first 100 was even measured at 1:29.5. I felt like I was catching up to Mason. I'm sure it is only temporary!

After the swim test, was a pull session with one goal: bilateral breathing. I still struggle with breathing to the left...it just isn't comfortable, but this session...there was no excuse for not doing it.

Friday morning was my FTP test on Trainer Road. This was to set the FTP for the 8 Days in California that starts on Sunday. I wanted to push hard on this test and really get the most out of my efforts. There was sweat, determination, doubt, shouting, and downright hurting going on....but 2 8min efforts of 300watts resulted in a higher FTP.

Overall it's been a great week of training. I'm kinda bumbed that I won't be at team practice on Saturday, but I need the day off before we move onto 8 bike workouts in 8 days. Have a great ride team!


PS: You know what I hate most about planks? It's not the hurt or the burn, but the fact that when your core is that tight...you feel all the flab that you still need to lose!