Ironman Training Week 24

7 weeks to go

Swim: 3 workouts, 2hr 51min, 6400m
Bike: 3 workouts, 10hr 52min, Saturday ride - 100 miles (elev. gain 7,129 ft.)
Run: 4 workouts, 3hr 38min, 19.43miles
Strength: 2 workouts, 30min
Total: 17hr 51min

Challenges:
A very large percentage of success in endurance sports is mental. You can train and execute your entire day perfectly and still be sidelined by something as seemingly small as self-doubt. I'm generally pretty good at overcoming the mental roadblocks my mind throws up during races and training (mostly by just being a stubborn idiot and refusing to acknowledge the possibility of failure - ah, blissful ignorance), but I had some setbacks this week that really got in my head. I'm moving past it, but it made for a rough couple of days.

Accomplishments:
I broke the speed limit. On my bike. Zoom zoom zoom!

Surprises:
I did a Splash & Dash on Thursday to get in a little of the ol' open water swimming practice. I was really excited to see how my extremely slow swimming has progressed after six months of intense swim workouts. It was a 1500m course, which is the exact swim portion of an olympic distance triathlon, so I had several swims to compare it to. I hopped in the lake, swam my little heart out, and...finished with pretty much exactly the same time as my last two olympic tris. Surprise. I was...displeased. It's going to be a long first leg at IMCDA.

Bonus:
I did manage to run the 5k post-splash Dash in less than 28 minutes (and averaged a 6:50 mile for the last couple minutes as I attempted to chase down the woman in front of me), so I guess there's that. Onward and upward.