Road to St George - Weeks 6-8

Well it seems i have gotten a little behind with the updates, sorry folks!  I will redeem myself by catching up today.  It has been a similar picture to the last several weeks overall.  Some good key workouts achieved and unfortunately some very key workouts missed.  Good things are my health and body, both are in a good place.  A not so good thing is that wine consumption seems to be back where it was before I entered my preparation phase ;).

So to give you a quick summary of where things are at from a training standpoint.  Week 6:

• Swim - A big swim week by virtue of Laura's planned 100x100's that took place on Saturday.  I wanted to challenge myself and my swim stroke with this epic swim and was very pleased with the outcome.  I won't bore you with the details but the week ended up with 5 hours of swimming and 17,000+ yards of swimming.
• Bike - Another week of indoor only riding, if nothing else I am a good marketing tool for my business!  I managed to get in 5 hours of ride time with a real mix of work across all ranges, although no vo2 sets just yet.  Most of the focus was around IM Power and LT.
• Run - Not a great week.  Three runs for a total of 20 miles (2.5 hours).  Should have run Sunday just didn't happen, no excuse here just lazy I guess!
• Core/TRX - Three solid sessions, feel really strong in a functional kind of way!  I am certain the core work helped me get through the 100x100 without any 'fade' or loss of form.  I need to work a little more on scapular stabilization and external rotation using the TRX but this is easy to implement.

Total duration for the week was 13.5 hours.

Week 7 was a mixed bag.  Improvement in run frequency but less swimming and core work.  I did take a day off this week my first for 27 days!  I tend to only take days off when I feel I need them and/or when circumstances conspire against me and I simply can't fit something in.  As you can gather most days I don't struggle with at least getting something done.  Consistent training leads to consistent results and helps develop a robust athlete.  Stats as follows:

• Swim - Just two swims this week but they were both decent.  7000 yards 2 hours.  Felt strong in the water during my 2000 straight through, did not 'tt' it but swam strong and went around 26:55.  That will do for now!
• Bike - Well biked four times Mon-Thurs.  No riding Fri-Sun.  Not optimal but not the end of the world.  That outdoor ride still missing!  4 hours ride time, some intensity for sure!
• Run - Four sessions this week, 33 miles and about 4 hours total run time.  Long trail run, track workout, m pace tempo on the treadmill and a trail run with Hawi.  A nice rounded week of running.
• Core/TRX - Just two sessions this week but both were very solid.  Not much more to say on that.

So in summary week seven ended up at about 11.5 hours.  Same old story of missing the long outdoor ride (or long indoor ride as a substitute) but a somewhat well rounded week I guess.

Week eight was Christmas week.  In spite of the crazyness of Christmas I still managed a solid week.  Diet was not optimal but could definitely have been worse.  More wine and chocolate than I care to recall but all in all I did not put weight on and was at a season low of 152.5lbs Christmas morning ;), since moved up a little but hey, I am only human.....  Here are some stats, oh and Christmas day was a day off ;o0:

• Swim - Two sessions, one of 3700 and one of 4150.  Pleased with Thursdays swim, hit 4k in an hour which including rest intervals which was decent.  Need to hit three sessions next week though.
• Bike - Four sessions, one road ride (1:45), and one longer ride on the CT (54 miles).  A decent week, averaged about 240w for the Wildflower course on Friday and it felt good (about 85% ftp).  Other sessions had some intensity but nothing noteworthy, either that or I am just keeping it a secret ;).  Time on the bike 6.5 hours.
• Run - Four sessions, a short night time trail run with Hawi, an M pace tempo run (6 miles at 6:48 pace), t-run (transition run) after the Wildflower ride and a long trail run with Gerry and Eddie on Sunday.  Total run time 4:15.
• Core/TRX - Another week of just two sessions......must try harder!!!

Total for the week 13:45hrs.  Some missed workouts but I am satisfied with the week.  The New Year really is crunch time for me to hit my long brick workout and to build the run volume.  Not in a panic just yet and feeling healthy and strong so that is a blessing.

I shall try and get back on track with the weekly updates in the New Year and get back to adding some nutrition information and other good stuff.  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you all.