Patching things together...

Life is crazy, as it is for every age grouper.  I have not put anything on paper as far as planning goes.  I am getting ready for RAGE and now the OC 1/2 marathon in May.  I am pushing myself more than ever.  I was thinking about this just today on my bike how my perception of hard has changed.  What I did today would not have been possible in years past not because of ability but because of what I think I am capable of.  Here is how the week went:

Monday-Swim.  1500 meters or race distance.  I pushed it and was tired.  I definitely can be better in the pool.  I just hate the pool.  Today it was way too cold for open water so the pool will have to do.  Here are details.  12:31, 13:43, and 14:43 per 500 m for a total of 41:09.  No rest but was very tired as it went.
Tuesday-Run and bike.  45 min easy run.  Me and sully battled the wind.  The whole time I am wondering if I should bike to work.  I decided to push myself.  It was cold and windy.  Half way there I realized I left the clinic keys at home.  Total of the 45 min biking in the wind.  I am glad I didn't ride to work.  It was horribly windy and rainy at the time of leaving home.  Would have been trouble.  I felt fine with todays effort.
Wednesday-Pushed a track workout due to time and weather.
Thursday-Off
Friday-Hill repeats running.  1 mile warm up, then up one street then down the other.  Up 3 different streets with differing each trip up.  Between 0.5 to 0.8 mile in length.  Up hard with easy running coming down.  No stopping no walking trying to not save it.  Don't do the first one easier so the next one is easier trying to go hard each one then force myself to recover.  Overall, 4.25 miles total in 38 min.  Overall a good effort with a workout I will definitely do again.  I will add on hills in the future.
Saturday-Long run.  8 mile progression run.  I was pleased with this effort.  I liked this workout.  Here are splits: 9:15, 9:08, 9:00, 8:54, 8:48, 8:48, 8:35, and 7:56.  I ran on a new trail near my home and this is definitely somewhere I will run in the future.  I am wondering if the 9s shouldn't be part of this workout.  It felt so easy and I was holding back very hard.  May be I will duplicate this workout with all 8 under 9?  If the half was this day I felt like I had more left in the tank and I feel that 1:55 would have been attainable.  These are the gems i am going to need more of.
Sunday (today)-Long bike.  Olympic bike course with a repeat on each hill.  My weakness is climbing.  So why not find the biggest hills around and repeat on them?  They happen to be race course too.  So I approached each climb in rhythm, recovered down, then power back up.  Try to do the second climb faster than the first climb.  Also, get the gearing for each hill and where to stand and fight for each climb.  I want to put together a total effort come race day and having confidence and knowledge of each climb is important.  Did I mention the wind?  There was a gnarly head wind coming home and it added to the difficulty of this ride.  Last year if you told me this is the workout for today and then tell me how I would feel, I wouldn't believe it.  Here are the details.  Total time of 2:23:41.  I repeated 3 sections.  Here are the sections: Boulder beach rd-4:19/4:00, 13:44 to the Look Out due N, 4:25/4:43, 16:08 to Northshore, 19:46/18:50, 12:58 to the Look Out due S 4:47/4:46, and 28:13 home. I left out rest in between the hills.  I concentrated on not leaving anything in the tank.  The second trip up the lookout with a head wind and legs gassed I hammered it to get the same time.  Hmmmmm.  I was gassed the rest of the way.  It was a big day on the bike and got some good work done.  Quote:


After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
Nelson Mandela

isn't that the beauty of it?  I am really enjoying the process.  More and more fitness leads to harder and more fulfilling things to do.  I am stoked.