Start of a tough week

By the end of this year, this week will probably go down as one of the hardest. There are two test sessions in the pool (one for speed, the other for endurance), threshold workouts on the bike and on the run, and topped by the usual weekend double-header of bike trainer/run hills. I probably should have rested a bit more this weekend, instead of trying to eat my weight. But I didn't, so I'll have to get stronger for it.

It starts today in the water. After a lengthy warm-up, which included some faster work to get the blood moving, we had a 750m TT. It seems like an odd distance choice to an outsider, but that's the length of the classic Sprint distance, so this should give me some idea as to where my speed will be for race season. As I said last week, I would love to see sub-15:00, but I'll take anything under 16 minutes. I didn't look at a clock during the test, since I'd just get confused trying to figure out my start time, and which color hand I started on. Head down and hammer was the plan.

For the most part, I'm happy with the result. I know my form was all over the place. There were some really good lengths, and some not so good. Interestingly, they were spread all over the TT. I need to continue grooving my stroke. The effort was hard, but I could have gotten out of the water and ridden away, so not quite all-out. My breathing for most of it was 2 breaths every five strokes (2 strokes, breathe, 3 strokes, breathe...). I got held up a little when I was lapping a lanemate (caught two of them), but that's maybe a few seconds I gave up. The worst part was hitting the wall at 650m, and not being sure if I had 100 or 200m to go. If I hung it out for 100m, and was wrong, my last 100 would have taken about an hour. So rather than sprint it home, I went fairly hard, but leaving a little in the tank. All told, a solid effort, and I finished in 15:46. Made the outside goal, which is good, and I know what I need to work on to get some more time to come off. I'll be giving away some time to the leaders, but the smaller the gap the better.

We finished with a somewhat easy workout, just to do some more after the TT. Hopefully Wednesday will be fairly easy, what with 3800m coming on Friday. That's a big number right there.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free (as 50 breast/50 back), pull
4x25 quick/25 ez, 15"
2x100 free, mod-hard, 30"
50 breast/50 free/100 pull
750m TT: 15:46
50 breast/50 back, 30"
100 pull, 30"
2x150 pull w/paddles, 30"
50 breast/50 back, 30"
100 pull, 30"
4x25 sprint, 30"
c/d - 50 breast/50 back
Total: 2850m