2021 week 31: seek challenges

Last week I got back into structured training as I build into these next 5 weeks toward Ironman 70.3 World Championships and 14 weeks to Ironman Arizona. It feels good to be pushing my limits again and challenging myself in new ways.

Quote of the week:

“Only when we seek challenges can we hope to find the best in ourselves.”
~Robert Rodriguez

Swim: 8796 yards

Thursday when I got in the water to complete my swim, I felt so sluggish and had thoughts that this swim was not going to go as planned. I decided to change my focus to my effort and form because I set goals on purpose and with purpose. I will always fight until I achieve my goals. Thursday required a little more fight and a lot more focus, but it totally paid off with each set faster than the last.

“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” ~Harriet Beecher Stowe ⚡️🔥

Warm up:
- 200 swim
- 200 drills
Main Set:
- 4×50 descending (10 sec rest)
- 3x[100 (10 sec rest), 200 (15 sec rest), 300 (20 sec rest)] Descending sets (each set should be faster than the previous set
- 100 kick
- 300 pull
Cool Down:
- 200 any stroke

Bike: 166 miles

Saturday and Sunday I rode on the trainer to climb ALL of the HILLS! Saturday I rode 70 miles and covered just over 5500 feet of elevation gain on The Mega Pretzel route on Zwift. Sunday I rode 68 miles and covered just over 4500 feet of elevation gain on The Pretzel route on Zwift. That is 10,000+ feet of climbing in 118 miles and buckets of sweat in 2 days. What a great way to prep for Ironman 70.3 World Championships!

I’d have to ride only hill repeats for days to get that kind of elevation gain here! 🤣

Run: 24.9 miles

Monday I ran hill repeats. I was going to do this before work, but with the poor air quality due to the smoke in the air from the Canadian wildfires, I decided that doing it after noon (when the air quality was to improve a bit) would be a wiser option. Bonus…it would also be a bit warmer and a gorgeous afternoon…nothing like the heat we had last week! There was still smoke in the air, so I probably should have done the hill repeats on the treadmill, but I just couldn’t resist the beautiful afternoon weather!