Transition Week

I’ve put the disappointment from last week behind me.  It sucked, but it’s just one race and now I need to focus on what’s ahead of me.  Of course, what’s ahead of me is a pretty big undertaking, a 140.3 mile race!  But specific training for the Ironman won’t start until next week.  This week is a transition week, where the only real goal is to maintain fitness until the start of the next training cycle.  (in this case just one week)  Specifically, all I really want to accomplish this week is to get 25 miles worth of running in, and to get in the pool a couple times.  I may get on the bike this weekend, but it is not a priority.  All my running is done at a endurance or conversational pace.  Once I get a couple blocks into my Ironman training, I’ll start running a little harder at the end of my long runs, but even then, the vast majority of my runs will be at a conversational pace.

So far this week, my training has looked like this:

Monday:

4 mile run (9:24 min/mile)

Normally I would take the Monday after a race off, but given that my race didn’t last too long, I figured I’d get a run in.  I felt good, didn’t push too hard, and kept a solid pace

Tuesday:

Off

Wednesday:

1200 yds in the pool, mostly working on stroke rate.

3 mi run immediately following the swim. (10:56 min/mi)

I felt really sluggish during both these workouts.  My swim times were slow, and my run was abysmal.  Not really sure what the cause was, I guess some days you just feel better than others.

Thursday:

6 mi run (9:49 min/mi)

Felt pretty good for most of the run, though I started to tire a bit at the end.  The last climb up the bridge was a chore, but I definitely felt better than yesterday.

I plan to get in the pool again tomorrow, and then follow that up with another short run.  On Saturday I’ll do my long run, and then Sunday I may get on the bike, I’ll see how I feel.