Feeling Fine and Alive, In Week Five

While not a stellar week in many regards, I do feel pretty good about the amount of time I spent on the bike. I really think that is going to end up being the key to a good race for me. And it is the part that I felt needed the most work. The race will be about 50% bike and 50% swim/run, so it makes sense to focus a lot of time on that discipline. I went to Des Moines on Sunday for a 60 mile ride with the DM Tri Chicks. Sparkle and I got a quick 22 miles in on Wednesday, then I took Friday off of work and headed back to DM for another century. It's great to feel the difference between my first ride in DM just 6 weeks ago. I was pretty crabby and didn't feel very strong on all the hills, but the last couple times have been great! So, I guess the training is starting to pay off!

I didn't get myself to the pool more than once, and even that was a pretty weak attempt. I decided to do the Big Creek Triathlon kind of at the last minute, so that kind of screwed up my plans. My running was a bit abbreviated this week, too, but the one run I ran with Team Vardo. The group that I usually can't even try to keep up with was the group that I ran with for all 8 miles. And, the run felt great! Sometimes, just a confidence boost like that is all you need.

I skipped my long run on Saturday in favor of taking a very mini (one-day) taper for the Big Creek Triathlon the following day! Plus, I followed up the century on Friday morning with a trip to the Iowa State Fair on Friday night. Although I didn't get any pictures of me at the fair, I did take this fine photo of Sparkle with a dog who shares her name:


Week 5 Weekly Round-Up (Sunday thru Saturday):
Swim: 2000 yards
Bike: 11 hours, 5 minutes
Run: 13.8 miles
Cross-Training: about 30 minutes of core and strength work.