Mental toughness...

More than anything physical, this week of training has been more about mental toughness. Colorado weather has again proved to be a pain in the butt. As I have said before, it is either snowing, windy or 100 degrees. The few days that are 70 degrees and nice are my favorite days of the year. This week was not full of those days.

This week was my longest "hours" of training. Monday came with a 5hr bike ride. Because it was very cold, windy (and recently snowed, though it had already melted)and sandy on the streets I had to stay indoors for this long ride. I moved my bike to be square in front of the tv and I rode while watching a myriad of shows. This became, not a day of physical strength, but more of mental toughness. Sitting indoors on a bike for 5hrs (actually 4hrs 45min, I had to cut it a few minutes short) and 87miles is a difficult task.

After getting off the bike I had my new favorite fuel, oatmeal with chocolate chips and peanut butter, then headed out for a speed run. This speed run took place with two of my players and my other run coach. We ran the stairs and hills at the rec center. We went 4 sets of 5 minutes on the stairs/hills and recovered with 2.5min of running flat. It was cold, it was windy but surprisingly I felt pretty good.

Tuesday it was better out, but not great. I headed indoors for a run on the treadmill. I ran 1hr 45min. The first hour was spent running under hr control and then I finished it with one minute on and one minute recovery. Again, to have to restart the treadmill (it only goes for 1hr) takes mental toughness. I followed this up with a speed swim.

Weds started bright and early with swim club. I swam 3,500m. Swim club is one of those places that makes me feel fast (I know I am not really). I swam this distance while the other people swam about 2,000 meters in the same amount of time. After the early swim I eat and take a nap. I followed this with an hour ride indoors and headed to the gym for weights and stair master.

Thursday..

I woke up thinking I should get my long run in for the week. It was a decent day out, about 45 degrees. My brilliant idea was to get someone to run with me for at least one of the three hours that I had to run. Sadly, there were no takers. I decided to head out and just "run". Running without heart rate control and just try and make the 3 hours.

I started running and decided to go to the platte trail where I had run with run club two weeks ago. I knew I was running a decent pace when I reached the run club turn around point in a lot less time than I had with run club. I headed out for a 1hr 37 min (I was taking a slightly different route home, so I figured I needed the extra few minutes) and turned around to come home.

Coming home was a lot more difficult. I stopped at business to refill my water that I was carrying and I also stopped to pop a blister I was getting on my foot...mental toughness was starting to kick in when I realized that most of the run home was "feeling" like uphill. Even the downhill that I was looking forward to, did not feel as good as I had hoped (this was 3 miles from home).

In the end I ran 21.57 miles and the best part was I ran it at an 8:51 pace. My 3hr run turned out to be a bit longer, with the bad estimate of my different route home. My average heart rate was 165, which is not bad at all. What does it mean for my upcoming race?? I don't know but it definitely helped build some confidence in my training. I have never run that pace or distance in training.

My legs were tired because a lot of the run took place on cement, which is not something I usually do. But today (Friday) they felt almost back to normal.

Today I had a long swim. I decided to save my 3 hr bike ride for tomorrow to save my legs a bit more. Besides it is suppose to snow again tonight, so I'll be inside again....

Next week I start my run taper, the following week bike taper and then swim taper before my race.