Monday, August 29th 2011

naseba seven test #2

Day 4

Swim:  4,000 meters (59.45)
transition:  13 minutes
Bike:  152 km (5:34)
transition:  less than 5 minutes
Run:  20 km (2:10)

total training:  9:36

Comments:
Recently, the mornings are very cold in Austria so getting ass naked in the cold, putting on my wet suit is a challenge. 
My swim was easy and smooth.  I had a good feel for the water and tried to roll my hips as much as possible.
I was surprised to see I finished under an hour.  If I knew I was going fast, I would have given more effort.

Today’s bike schedule was for 150km … with some big climbs. 
The bike is what I fear the most.  Ridiculous, I know, especially considering how gorgeous our rides are … but Mario has taken me on many asshole rides … with seemingly never ending climbs.

Todays ride started well, and I felt good.
I have had pain in my ass and surrounding area ..but today, it didnt bother me too much.
I think its mostly mental … and when I think about the pain, it hurts more and doesnt go away.

The weather was perfect and we did a long lap with several medium sized climbs.
I was dissapointed with our final time for the 152 km, but Mario pointed out that my time and pace was good considering the length of some of the climbs.

Mentally, I was much tougher today.  My knees and body felt good, and I wanted to break 2 hour on the half marathon.  For brevity, I wrote 20km run, but we ran/run exactly, half marathon on the 20km days.

As usual, I started off on the run ahead of Mario … who always begins about 20 minutes after me, and passes me 90 minutes later.

I felt good and focused, so I started off at a much faster pace than normal.  My goal was to break 2 hours and not let Mario catch me.
Long story short, I had a good run … Mario passed me after 90 minutes and I finished the run in 2:10 (only 2 minutes faster than yesterdays first half marathon)  Crazy – I gave much much more effort today, but only beat yesterdays time by 2 minutes.

Mario laughed at me when I complained about my time.  He reminded me that yesterday I ran a full marathon…

I finished training around 18:30, came home and ate a big plate of pasta and then took my girls to dinner where I ate 3 different main dishes … at once.
Although I am a bit stiff right now, my knee doesnt hurt at all.  

Its 10pm and I am in bed … hoping to sleep.  Last night, I slept poorly, maybe 3-4 hours in total of sleep … in the middle of the bike, I seriously thought I might fall asleep, and we had to stop for a coke and a bar of dark chocolate  — which did the trick because I was no longer sleepy immediately afterwards.

Tomorrow is fairly easy – 4,000 meter swim, 120 km bike and 20km run.