Now That’s More Like It!
After a couple weeks of training sessions that were less than inspiring, this weekend was a great one for my confidence. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. With just two weeks until the Ironman (in fact, at this time in two weeks, I should be somewhere early in the run), I’m just about done with anything of any real intensity or distance and have been starting to get a little worried about my fitness level and speed. I was talking to a friend the other night and he asked me how I was feeling. My answer was that I was feeling “fine” – I was confident that I could finish the race and even post a decent time, but trying to achieve my real time goals worried me. I haven’t been feeling particularly fast recently and haven’t really been having workouts recently that would help overcome that feeling. I know that this is supposed to happen at this point before the race, but my doubts were definitely getting the better of me. Until this weekend, that is!
Saturday morning I got up to meet Mike and our usual group in Santa Monica at 6:30. Mike was doing a hard, hilly 100 miles and I knew that wasn’t what I needed. I wanted to try a faster ride without the canyon climbing. The canyons are great for building strength, but frankly I won’t be seeing anything like that in Penticton and I’ve done enough super-hilly riding this season. Instead, I did a rolling out-and-back along the PCH (almost to Las Posas). I spent almost the entire ride in aero and after a 30-or-so minute easy warm-up, moderately pushed the pace for the rest of the ride. I was happy riding fast and did a nice negative split for the ride. I got off the bike feeling pretty fresh and ready to run. I ran 10 miles along Ocean Ave to the Pier and then San Vicente up into Brentwood and back. The run felt great. I started off a little easy and picked up the pace for the last three or four miles. I finished the run feeling strong and mostly getting rid of the worry-demons that had been getting into my head recently.
This morning was another early one. In the wake of my unfortunate
Pier-to-Pier swim, Jeff suggested that he wanted to try a three mile swim from the Venice Pier to the Santa Monica Pier. My only conditions were that we wear wetsuits and try to go with the current. Fortunately, those were part of his plan as well. We did a little research and decided that the current has been heading north (Venice to Santa Monica) and since we both breathe to the right, that direction made the most sense. So, this morning, we met at 6:45 in Santa Monica to drop off one car, drive to Venice and meet up with Jeff’s friend Guy. We had mapped it out on Google Maps and our course – from the outside of the Venice Pier then up, along the coast to the outside of the Santa Monica Pier – came out to almost exactly three miles. If you swim in a straight line, that is. We figured 1:30, give-or-take a little.
I was a little nervous at the start, not because I’d never swam three miles before but because of how cold I’d gotten at the Pier-to-Pier. But, I ate a little extra this morning, wore ear plugs, did a couple seconds of jogging before getting into the water and, most importantly, had on my wetsuit. Right from the start, I felt a million times better than at Pier-to-Pier. I was breathing normally and eased right into my stroke. Jeff and I are around the same pace and Guy might be just a little faster, but close enough. The water felt comfortable and there was a bit of a current heading our way. My fingers got a little cold, but even that went away after a few minutes. It was night and day different from Pier-to-Pier. We were swimming generally together at the same pace. About 42 minutes in, we all stopped and tried to guess how far we were; it seemed about half-way, which would have been about right. Somewhere towards the end of the swim, with maybe a half-mile to go, I felt like the current shifted and maybe started going against us a bit. I tried picking up the pace a little because first, I thought that if I swam faster the current might affect me less and second, at that point, I just wanted to be done.
The three of us finished up within a couple minutes of each other. Another confidence-boosting workout. While the pace was a little slower than I hope to swim in the Ironman, I didn’t push that hard and the ocean is hopefully more challenging swim than Lake Okanagan. Also, in the Ironman I should have drafts to take advantage of. Either way, it was longer than the Ironman swim and it went great! We talked about making this swim a tradition. Sounds like a fantastic idea to me.
I had considered running this evening and then taking tomorrow off. I think instead I’ll take the rest of today off and get back to it tomorrow. It was a good week and I’m ready for a restful afternoon!
Run #2 – August 13
Distance: 5.6 miles
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 132
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Evening run, high 60’s
Ocean Swim – August 14
Distance: ~2,300 yards
Time: 1:00
Brick – August 15
Total Time: 5:55
Bike:
Distance: 71.9 miles
Time: 3:35
Average heart rate: 112
Course: PCH out and back
Transition Time: 3:47
Run:
Distance: 10.1 miles
Time: 1:16
Average heart rate: 145
Course: Ocean Ave and San Vicente
Conditions: Sun and clouds, a little hazy, mid-to-high 60s
Ocean Swim – August 16
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 1:29
Course: Venice Pier to Santa Monica Pier
Conditions: Glassy, 63 degrees, mild north-bound current