Week Forty-Two: 10/14-10/20

Also week 16 of IM training.

Monday, October 14: Bike: 12.81 mi in 41:01; avg cad 91; 18.7 mph
- 33.4 mph max
- MX12 over-unders
- that felt ... dare i say it ... easy???
Stretching: 13:00
- oh god that felt good
- back, neck, shoulders, legs ... everywhere
- Considered taking today off. I really, really did. But my RoadID motivational phrase, my favorite Falla-ism, got me to reconsider that thought - the only way out is through. I'm so close - the only way I can finish this journey is to keep on keepin' on. So I did. And it wasn't crazy, but it felt good. It was also nice to stretch a little.

Tuesday, October 15: Swim: 3600m in 1:31:56 - 2:33/100m
- 6x600m
- first set very, very rough
- never felt truly into this for more than a handful of laps here and there
- The problem with a mid-shift at work and then these long-ass swim sets is that they don't really leave me time for another workout ... especially if I have plans for that evening. Oh well - swam and it was fine.

Wednesday, October 16: Run: 5.01 mi in 47:54 - 9:33/mi
- Orchard loop
- NEG SPLIT!! 10:00, 9:56, 9:51, 9:45, 8:19
- compression socks tried out - worked great
Bike: 24.28 mi in 1:23:02; avg cad 89; 17.5 mph
- 33.8 mph max
- Spinervals 22.0 - TimeTrialPalooza
- in a weird (present) mental state for this one
- Bizarre mental shift today. Definitely did not want to run this morning. Brain was like okay, that's cool ... go run. So I did, and it was awesome. Same thing with the bike. I think I found another headspace ...

Thursday, October 17: Off: various
- Really I can blame Brandon coming home and me being able to truly hang out with him for the first time in a long while. Kind of frustrated with this off day. Felt like I had to convince myself it was okay to take it ...

Friday, October 18: Swim: 800m in 18:43.41 - 2:20/100m
- 4x100m, 25/25, 50/25, 25/25, 100/25, 25/25, 50
- interrupted set
- let the emotional take over the mental and the physical
- Rare fighting with Brandon made us both not in a good place going into this one. I tried to overcome and was doing okay, but when he finally broke down, I couldn't let him be like that alone.

Saturday, October 19: Walking: 2:00:00
- supposed to be a ride
- trails
- As the comments say, this was supposed to be a 50-mile ride. Couldn't mentally force this one with the cool weather and the race expo and everything.

Sunday, October 20: Run: RnR Denver Half-Mar: 13.33 mi in 2:12:00 - 9:54/mi
- "actually" 13.1 in 2:11:59 - 10:05/mi
- almost had this one
- knee noticeability again ...
- Garmin says I did 13.1 in 2:09:44. Race says otherwise. In any case, massive PR.

This week had highs - Wednesday, the neg split run, the mental shift - and lows - Thursday's off day, Friday's swim, the lack of a ride on Saturday - and culminated in a race that was simultaneously disappointing and satisfying.

I just hope the latter half of the week won't hurt me ...

Weekly training time: 9:07:35
Weekly training mileage: 58.15 mi
Yearly training time: 236:38:56
Yearly training mileage: 2000.34 mi