Week 29 Wrap-up

Last week was a good one--felt much better than I did in Week 31 and even, to some extent, in Week 30. My heart rate was much more in control on the run than it's been in previous weeks, which had been an area of some concern for me, and my speed on the bike was a little faster at the same intensity than it had been. And, more impressively (at least in my land-locked mind), my swim continues to come along nicely. The drills and intervals baked into our training program really help break up the monotony of it all and pretty much force me to stay into it mentally, which I have to think will help come race day.

Monday night, Jeremy and I went to our second "Ironman Mondays" seminar in the city--this one was on nutrition, which is a subject of much debate and great importance. I learned a lot--the highlights are that I'll be focusing on complex carbs throughout the race and steering clear of simple sugars (no Gatorade, in other words). We talked about race-day strategy (as much of a liquid diet as possible), recovery needs, electrolyte replacement, and hydration--some new stuff and some great reinforcement of stuff I've read previously. I decided to start working on my nutrition plan and mixed my first IM cocktail Saturday for the long bike--I'm going to try Hammer products and see what happens, so I took 2.5 scoops of Perpetuem and mixed it with one serving of Orange Hammer Gel and water to make a slightly chalky but otherwise quite palatable concoction of approximately 400 calories. It worked pretty well--I'll stick with that mixture and adjust calories as needed to fit my workout needs, and, if all goes well, I'll have a decent start on my fueling plan prior to hitting the long rides this summer.

One other note--Sunday was finally sunny!!! Even better, it was sunny and I could run outside!!! I ran 10 miles--meant to do 8, but it was so nice (albeit still a bit cold) and things just felt great, so I kept going. My HR stayed in check the whole time, and even the reverse brick I did on the bike when I got back didn't hurt too badly...either that or I was just in a great mood from the sun. Either way, I'm not complaining...

Here's the roll-up for Week 29:

Swim: 2:59:00 / 7600 meters
Bike: 4:35:08 / 74.10 miles
Run: 3:16:54 / 20.01 miles
Total: 10:51:02 / 98.87 miles

Week 28 goals = more of the same...and try to maintain balance while adjusting to different responsibilities at work. Also, get back to journaling on WW--fell off that particular wagon yet again, and it's really starting to irk me...