Training Week In Review: Week 16

Shifting focus for the week

This week I determined that I needed to move my focus slightly off distances for the bike and turn my attention to the swim and run. I feel that I have been devoting most of my energy to reaching new distances on the bike and building endurance and power in my cycling muscles, and don't want to neglect the swim and run. Even though the bike takes the longest portion of time on race day, the swim still has to be done and the run needs to be completed without suffering too early on.

To help this, I decided to add an extra swim into my training week, forget about speed, and just do a couple of 1000 meter sets at a comfortable, easy pace. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my pace was only a couple of seconds slower than my focused sessions! I am looking to move more of my swims to open water over the next couple of weeks as I definitely want to gain more sighting experience and escape the monotony of the cement pond.

In the running department, this week was already slated to be a higher distance week on my training calendar so this lined up nicely with my goals for the week. I got in 4 runs, and my distance run was at a faster pace that I've done in a long time for any run over 6 miles. My heart rate monitor started acting up on my long run (12 miles) with about 3 miles left on the run. I knew something was off when I was pushing up the last long hill, glanced down at my Garmin and saw my heart rate at 64 bpm. I could easily feel that it was higher than that so now I need to figure out if the error was related to the monitor itself (maybe need to replace batteries?) or something else I haven't thought of. I'm more inclined to think its the battery because it's worked perfectly up until now. I'll have to investigate and get this solved quickly so I can get back on track with my zone training.

I pumped out a short(er) ride/run brick on Saturday and was extremely happy with how I felt on the run after holding 17.1 mph average for 31 miles. This was my first opportunity to test out my new saddle. I'm trying to find the perfect balance of comfort for long rides, and this is my first attempt with a new saddle. I decided to go with the ISM Adamo Road saddle for my first test. Over all it was better, but not great. It relieved all pressure and discomfort I've been experiencing over the past few weeks, but only while I am in the drops or aero position. When I sit up and place my hands on the hoods to stretch it still is very uncomfortable. I think it's time to consult my friends at All 3 Sports to find out which saddle to try next. I definitely feel that finding the right saddle will go a long way towards better training and a happier race day as 112mi on the bike will be challenging enough without the added discomfort of pain in all the wrong places.

It's been extremely humid this week and the increase sweating and wet air have been felt in the outdoor training sessions in the first few minutes whether early in the morning or on evening sessions. Looking forward to next week's training and I know will have to stay focused on nutrition over the 4th of July holiday weekend. I am pleased with the way I've kept dialed in on my eating so far and am starting to see more results from the nutrition combined with the longer workouts.

My final note for this week's training recap is that my Garmin Forerunner 910xt has apparently been attacked by technology gremlins causing it to malfunction in the elevation recording. For my runs and rides it reports that I have experienced 0 ft. of elevation gain and over 38,000 ft. of elevation loss. I've tried cleaning the sensor on the back of the watch to no avail. So, I've taken the next step and reached out to Garmin customer service to see what they can do to help me. I've read about a lot of people having this issue with a certain batch of watches and for the most part Garmin seems to be very helpful in replacing the watch with no additional cost other than shipping to send the old watch back. Here's hoping for a fast (and cheap) resolution so I can stay on track.

Weekly totals: Swim - 5000m • Bike - 75mi • Run - 26.7mi