Week 15 Wrap-Up (aka 224.57 miles of fun)

Week 15 is, by far, the longest training week I've had thus far--wasn't supposed to be, but since I moved last week's long run into the week and somehow got talked into doing two long rides this weekend, I ended up with a week that included 224.57 miles of forward motion...had I done that straight from my house, I could be in Iowa City by now...or someplace darn close to there. Yikes. It really is no wonder that I'm wiped, but still--I feel really pretty good about the week and all that it entailed.

Monday morning (Memorial Day), I got up early (still in LaPorte, IN) to do my long run--a 15-miler. Parts of LaPorte are much hillier than where I typically run, which made things interesting...and the wicked high humidity and my tired legs from the long bike Sunday made the run a pretty rough run. I haven't had to stop and walk (even to take a water break) on a training run since probably last August, but I had to take a few walk/water breaks Monday to keep my HR in check and give my poor little legs a break. Michele (who had done her long run Friday) caught up with me on her bike at about mile 6.5 or so--she brought a refill for my water bottle and ended up keeping me company on most of the rest of my run. It helped having her there--I was not in the best place mentally because I was tired, hot, cranky, and, frankly, upset with myself for having to walk, and being able to talk with her about non-running stuff was a huge help. Not my best run effort...but I got it done, at least.

After the run, Sue, Michele and I went for our first open-water swim of the season (and I gave my wetsuit its maiden voyage). We did 2.2 miles in the lake by their cottage--felt great the whole time (except for the initial "oh crap I'm swimming in a lake again and there are weeds and fish and lots of yucky stuff" feeling that I had for the first ~200 meters or so). My wetsuit works great--it was very comfortable and it didn't seem to hinder my stroke at all. I drafted off Sue for a lot of the swim (I had just run 15 miles, after all--I felt I deserved a little break), but I was pleased that I was able to keep my stroke pretty smooth and my breathing normal. We did the 2.2 miles in 1:12--not too shabby for a non-swimmer such as myself--and we were all pretty psyched.

Because we had planned to do two long bike rides on the weekend, I cut back a bit on the bike training during the week and focused more on getting my runs in. After running on Monday, I ran both Tuesday and Wednesday, too--nothing too brutal, but 6 miles each day. Then, because we needed to work in our long run for the week, Michele and I took off bright and early Thursday morning to get a 13-miler in before work. At about mile 9, I realized that I've lost my mind--not only did that make day 5 in a row of running (not something I typically do), but I basically did a half marathon before work, then had to make it through the whole work day as well. I was dragging by about 10 am...thankfully Theresa and I took a quick little jaunt up to the Caribou near work for coffee, but even that wasn't quite enough to help my cause. I totally bagged my Thursday night swim in favor of sleep...and took full advantage of Friday being a total rest day.

Saturday morning, Sue, Michele, Jeremy, and I took off on the Trek 100 bike ride outside of Milwaukee. It was an AWESOME course--great country roads, lots of very helpful volunteers, and rest stops every 10 miles (I only stopped at mile 50 and 80, but still--good to know they were there). I highly recommend the ride--and I'll definitely do it again, but will be on the lookout for the packs of roadies that kept things interesting. We each rode on our own--Jeremy and Michele both clocked in at about 5 hours for the 100 miles, I cruised in at about 5:35, and Sue followed pretty close after me. All in all, I felt good with my ride--my heart rate stayed in check the whole time and I even managed the hills pretty well. Plus, with the exception of my neck and shoulders getting really stiff, I felt great the whole way.

But, as if 100 miles in a day wasn't enough, Sue, Michele, and I opted to take part in the Udder Century on Sunday as well...although we quickly opted out of another 100-miler and ended up shooting for the 100K option (62 miles)--still a good effort, but more of a recovery ride than anything else. Surprisingly, my legs felt fine after Saturday's ride--my issues were more with my neck and shoulders (God bless Advil) and, as Vardo calls the area in question, the "mommy parts" (aka saddle area). The Udder course is flat as a pancake for the most part, and we had a good tailwind for a good chunk of the ride, so it actually was a good recovery effort (my average HR was only 64% and I still finished in about 3:40...). The last 15 miles or so were rough--again, not legs or cardio-related, but just from the sheer length of time sitting on my saddle (which I still love, by the way). Again, though, I felt good with the ride--I'm not going to set any land-speed records on the IM course, but I'm feeling really good about where my bike fitness stands these days.

So...that's the tale of how the 224.57 miles of forward motion came into being...and also the explanation for why I'm so God-awful tired (well, that and the lack of sleep thing, which I still haven't quite mastered). Great week mentally, though...even to the point where I'm thinking I can actually do this thing after all...

Here's the roll-up...

Swim: 2:26:00 / 6820 meters
Bike: 10:24:51 / 180.30 miles
Run: 6:31:47 / 40.01 miles
Total: 19:22:38 / 224.57