Longest workout of the year to date

[Day 66]

Oh no I missed another blogging day! Yesterday was so hectic it completely slipped my mind that I hadn't blogged. This is what happens on rest days. I forget stuff. Okay well let's do a recap of yesterday and a recap of the week before we get into today's workout log.

Rest day: Yesterday was a pretty good day all in all, got some studying done, went to Schnucks Screenings, performed in the Vagina Monologues, had fun focusing on non-training related things that made me feel like I had a life again. I actually had a great day just being a normal person. That was probably why I forgot to log lol. The body felt pretty good most of the day, a little bit of residual exhaustion from the run on Friday but nothing super notable. Good stuff all in all.

Weekly Recap:

• 2 swims, 2 runs, 1 trainer brick, 1 gym session, 1 core session for a total of ~10 hrs in 7 sessions.
• I missed a swim this week and took 3 rest days which sort of made it not the week I wanted it to be but for what it's worth, I think I put in some great efforts during this week's sessions, especially with regards to running.
• It was nice to finally hit some harder efforts with the running. I'm pretty slow but it's coming along really well I think in terms of finding speed while tired. It's really shown through in the bricks, where I've been taking much faster efforts than I typically do. Makes me think I could pull out a pretty good 10k time in the next race. We'll see.
• I haven't done great this week with the sleep. I think that's worth noting. I've had to take afternoon naps twice and I think it says something about my sleep habits that needs to be fixed. Gonna really try and fix that in the upcoming week because it'll be a big week and I'll need to try and keep my energy reserves up. 

Okay time for today! Here's the weekend brick update:

Today's Workout: Brick (30 mi ride + 4 mi run, moderate effort)
Summary:

• Bike: 29.66 mi, 2:00:30, 14.8 mph (Geyer-Adams-Ballas route)
• Bike speed splits by 5 mi: 14.4, 14.7, 15.2, 14.5, 14.7, 15.2
• Transition: 2:30.60
• Run: 4.24 mi, 38:07, 8:59 pace, 178 spm cadence (flat half of the park)
• Run splits by mile: 8:36, 8:56, 9:13, 9:08, 9:11 

Hit Rate: 69/76 (90.7%)

The ride felt really good. I took it pretty moderately and honestly felt way more energized in the second half than I thought I would. Was mostly pretty calm too, wind started up towards the end but it was very manageable. I spend some time out of the saddle in the first half but pretty much tried to keep my climbs seated in the second half because I need to work on the steady seated climbing (Collegiate Nationals and Chicago should both be flat courses so it makes more sense to just stay seated rather than amp up heart rate with standing climbs when there are small hills). The run felt pretty rough today, not gonna lie. Didn't have the same spring in my step I usually expect and I felt outrageously slow, but the splits came out well and I got some good practice forcing myself to focus and stay positive and finish strong. It's just as important to work on the mental side of things so I'm glad there are days that really challenge me in that department. The only other thing worth noting about the workout is that I took two gels on the bike and had most of a bottle of Gatorade. I didn't eat breakfast beforehand, just had a Clif Bar, some water, and 3 Shot Bloks. It seemed to meet my calorie needs pretty well though, so it's good to feel like I have that part of the game plan down. Will probably stick to a similar pattern for the rest of the workouts that clear 2.5 hours in length. 

It's pretty cool to note that my longest workout last summer in the lead up to September racing was a 30+5 brick and a 24+6 brick and I've hit a 30+4 and we're still 7 weeks out from racing. I'm feeling super fit and super pumped to keep working towards putting together a good race in April. Excited to see where this goes. 

Lifting in the morning tomorrow and taking a nice easy run lap of the park in the afternoon. Seems like it'll be a light day in terms of school hours which will be nice, give me a chance to keep trying to catch up on lectures and things. Big week of training coming up, let's get it! (:

Much love,

Jess

Unplanned doubles

[Day 50C]

Lol yeah it's me again. Third post of the day. Apparently a lot's going on today. So I got a random text at 1 pm from my friend Hoang (who is an awesome cyclist) asking if I (and some other classmates) wanted to go for a ride at 2:30. Obviously I've already worked out today. And tried to work out yesterday. My legs, despite falling short of all of my expectations, actually felt horrible. Like "why is it that there are three steps leading up to the door of my building" horrible. So obviously I said "Yeah let's do it!". I cannot tell if I am amused by myself or not.

To my credit, the weather was beautiful today, it was the kind of day where it was hard to say no to a mid-afternoon ride. So after checking in at lab, I rushed home and got all ready to go and met up with Hoang and hit a pretty awesome trail that ran along the river. It was really windy today, especially along the riverfront. I was sort of expecting it to only be windy one way, because that would be sensible, but in reality it was just windy the whole time. Hoang taught me some stuff about drafting and let me ride behind him and get pulled most of the way. He's just so much stronger of a cyclist than I am, he was definitely trying to feel out what pace was working for me and I would fight to keep up and fight to keep up and get dropped for a bit and he would slow down and come back to me and we would do it all again. It was actually super great to ride with someone who is faster because it made me work hard while keeping things light-hearted and fun. I did fall twice, both times at a dead standstill because I didn't clip out early enough. It was okay though, I didn't get any scrapes or anything, just slightly wounded pride. xD

Today's PM Workout: Ride outdoors along the Riverfront Trail w/ Hoang
Summary: 30.44 mi, 2:02:10, 14.9 mph
Speed splits by 5 mi: 15.2, 15.6, 15.3, 14.2, 17.3, 13.1
Hit Rate: 55/59 (93.2%)

So I had been planning to ride tomorrow morning, but I guess that plan's changing now that I've gotten this ride in today. I figure I'll take the opportunity to go to the gym and lift, focusing on upper body, nothing heavy on the legs because I'm taking a long run on Sunday. I'll throw in some stability work stuff (band squats, bridges, etc.) because I never do enough of that. It'll be good. I'm glad I got to go ride outside today and explore and learn new things and have fun just trying to keep up with a friend. Here's a picture! (:

Thanks for taking me out to ride today @greenboxmode! Glad you're forcing a girl that spends most of her time on a trainer to see real roads and brave car traffic. Lucky to have friends who push me out of my comfort zone and teach me new things and are willing to pull me through a ton of headwind to get me home. #blessed #butactually #timetostudynow #thatgeneticsisntgonnalearnitself #cycling #triathlon #grow

A photo posted by Jessica Hao (@newxheights) on Feb 19, 2016 at 2:55pm PST

Much love,
Jess

Loving something so much it hurts to stomach

[Day 37]

Today's Workout: Cycling (outside) with Molly! (MCT trail system)

Summary: 18.28 mi, 1:16:55, 14.3 mph

Speed splits by mile: 13.7, 15.6, 13.4, 14.6

Hit Rate: 40/41 (97.5%)

Notes/thoughts:

• Riding outside is amazing. It was really cold when I first got up this morning and I was worried it was going to be freezing and awful, but it was a super sunny day and the temperature came up a bit and I layered up real good and it was actually a totally fine temperature to be riding at. I had sort of shied away from riding outside because of the weather (not that I don't ride to practice in this weather anyways, but that's in like sweatpants and a ski jacket so it's sort of a different deal) but now I feel like there really isn't any good reason to, so I might hit the outdoors more often. 
• This set of trails Molly found is great. No traffic, not very many riders out today, well-paved, nice environment, I was just really happy about it. It's a bit of a trek to get out there, but with a buddy it's totally worth it. Also her tri bike is sick. Way jealous, really hoping she has some great races on it this year. 
• I fell once, trying to make a turn I should have really just clipped out for because the road was narrow. Luckily I was totally covered so no road rash besides a scrape on my ankle that I managed to get through my sock somehow.
• Molly has a heart rate monitor, which I'm sort of jealous of. There are so many things that I need to prioritize about getting before I want to invest in a heart rate monitor though that I'm just sort of like, okay another thing that's cool but not actually that important. xD
• I definitely felt like it took more effort to ride that pace than it should have today. Probably just fatigue from the week, but the speed demon in me is a tad bit disappointed because the biking felt so controlled and I normally prefer it to feel less controlled. I feel like my brain interprets biking really similarly to skiing and I want biking to give me skiing levels of speed rush which is basically impossible unless I'm shooting down a hill at a likely unsafe speed. All that really means though is I have to get more bike fit, which is what I'm working on right now, so maybe in a month or two I will be going faster and therefore be feeling happier about it. 

Weekly Recap:

• 3 rides (2 trainer, 1 outside), 3 swims, 4 runs (3 outdoors, 1 on a treadmill after lifting), 1 lift, 1 core specific session for a total of ~12:45.
• This was a big week, sort of artificially so because I included a half hour of core in the log and it was a 7 day week instead of a 6 day week because I swapped today's ride and tomorrow's rest day to accommodate other schedule things in my life. 
• I have been really tired. Like way more blown out at the end of each of my days (or even by mid-afternoon) than I was all of January. Makes sense because more volume. Surprisingly enough, I've been really impressed with the actual workout performance given that. In terms of late week workouts, runs have been really slow but the swims have been really solid and I'm super impressed with my body managing to hold that together despite feeling genuinely terrible. 
• It's been an emotional week. A lot of doubt, dissatisfaction, and self-pity at night but also a lot of big moments that have really re-affirmed to me why it is that I go through all of that. I love what I do. I could not not do what I do. It's really not a choice, it's just a part of who I am and who I will always be. So it's really hard, but I gotta buckle down and take that because this is what I want.
• I was just out at dinner and one of my friends said something really nice about how she was really impressed with how motivated I am and she probably doesn't realize this because I honestly had no idea how to properly respond to that comment but it meant so much to me. It always means so much to have someone say, hey I see you. I feel like this is a part of my life that is not actually seen by very many people because so much of it happens when I'm essentially alone, so to have someone acknowledge that meant a lot to me. It's just good to be seen. It makes me feel a lot less alone.

Next week is also gonna be a big week, followed by a short 4 day decompress before we get into what is officially speaking Block II. Honestly the plan is just to go really really hard and take all I can take and then let off for a bit and hopefully see the work pay off at the start of Block II. Much needed rest day coming up tomorrow. Happy Saturday! (:

Much love,

Jess

First brick of the season!

Okay it was more of a long transition run than a full brick, but you know, I ran off the bike so it counts.

Today's Workout: Race distance-ish bike + 20-30 min transition run
Summary:

• Bike: Midland-Ashby route, 23.50 mi, 1:32:07, 15.3 mph, 879 ft gain.
• Bike speed splits: 13.4, 15.1, 16.2, 16.1, 16.6
• Transition: 2:09.6, hilariously I fell off my bike trying to dismount while clicking my watch buttons, will have to not do that next time.
• Run: 14 minute turn around, 2.87 mi, 26:47, 9:20 pace.
• Run pace splits: 8:48, 9:27, 9:50.

Hit rate: 25/27 (92.6%)

I want it noted that the bike cadence was much better than yesterday, and most of the average speed being higher was a result of me bombing down the hills every opportunity I got. I tried to focus on being smooth on the uphills, to varying degrees of success (I even spent a little bit of time climbing out of the saddle!). The run cadence was also surprisingly good given that I was coming off the bike. Too excited off the start though and was really feeling the pace taper out as time went on. I'll have to work on extending the length of these transition runs and that might become problematic as the runs get longer. I knew it was going to be short though so I just went fast and tried to hold on. It's good practice I guess. 

I had a blast training today. The roads were clear, there were a ton of other friendly cyclists on the roads, I hung onto the end of a group of old guys on the way in from Clayton who were real funny and shot past me once I got on the bike path in Forest Park and that was really motivating and fun. The transition into the run really breaks up the monotony of a long workout and I really enjoyed that little challenge. All in all it was just getting to do things that are a lot of fun and I had a blast.

Two key nutrition things today: I got up way early and made/ate breakfast about 1-2 hours before I headed out which I think was really important to how sustained I felt energy level wise. Also had a full bottle of water with Nuun that I drank while out on the bike, so that also kept me going once I was off the bike. I'm running out of Nuun though so I'll have to load up on that soon.

The plan is going to be a little more flexible these next two weeks because of a sort of unclear orientation schedule at school. I'm for sure going to be taking morning swims Monday and Tuesday and will hopefully be able to fit in an evening long run tomorrow and a bike trainer session on Tuesday. I may or may not decide to drop the evening sessions depending on how busy I am and how my body is feeling though. I've been putting in good work, I'm willing to be flexible about it. We'll see what happens. Wish me luck with the first day of orientation tomorrow!

Much love,

Jess