Sunday, October 23, 2011

Bike-spin-swim!

Arghhh, I can't say how it's crept on me except that I've really been very busy - but I am doing a triathlon in two weeks! What I do at this short distance out probably doesn't make a huge amount of difference fitness-wise, but I will have as many 1hr. spins and short swims as I can in the next ten days, for mental preparedness at least. My only strategy (it's the olympic-distance race in Cayman - first time I've done it, usually it's over US Thanksgiving weekend when neither Brent nor I is there): swim very very easy and if at all possible on someone else's feet, bike in zone 3 because the run will be horrible anyway due to lack of heat acclimation, then do some mix of run-walk and keep covering ground as fast as is reasonable once I get to the run. As far as heat acclimation goes, I might try for a few sauna or steam room sessions at Chelsea Piers this week, but I didn't have time today and I won't tomorrow either, so that may be a bit impractical...

Horrible ride down - it was such a beautiful day, the path was way too crowded, and when I don't ride my bike for a week it gives the anxiety time to build up! However I have finally pumped my front tire up properly - not sure if it was problem with valve or with pump itself, but it takes a bit of fiddling. A relief to be going 'normal' speeds again.

Had a great workout once I was actually at the gym - I did an hour spin along lines that I took from the Spinervals site the other day:

10 mins. warmup with 3 x 30 sec. hard, 30 sec. easy
1 min. soft-pedal
8 x 20 sec. high cadence (100-120), 20 sec. easy
1 min. soft-pedal
4 x 7 min. aerobic temp (cadence 80-90rpm, zone 2-3)
1 min. soft-pedal
6 x 20 sec. high cadence (110-130), 20 sec. easy
cool down

1:00, avg HR 135, max HR 152 - Garmin Connect seems to have updated itself in a way that means I no longer know how to see segments in different HR zones...

Then I just swam 1000 yards fairly easy: 4 x 100 free, 50 stroke (breast, back, free, fly drill), then 4 x 100 as odds free, evens IM

And had a 'popeye' smoothie (pineapple, mango, banana, spinach and water) and 2 HB eggs at the cafe, then rode my bike home - it was gorgeous, 1-2 slightly congested spots but it had cooled down and was close to dusk and it really was a lovely one...

10 miles bike in the world
1hr spin
1000 yards swim

3 comments:

Brent Buckner said...

Good that you made the cycling happen!

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

Good luck with the tri! I won't say I envy you :-) But at least you get to ride on traffic controlled roads!

Black Knight said...

Good luck with the tri, it seems that you are ready!