Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Fitness Assessment week

I'm in the middle of time trial week. Every so often my coach wants to re-assess my fitness. I do this with 3 basic time trials. The problem? I'm alone. I feel pretty nervous as I head out to see just how fast I can go at this point in my training......alone. I expect a lot of myself you see. When I race, I have all kinds of forces working in my favor. I get the flow of adrenalin, the nerves, my intensely competitive drive, my ego I suppose and the sheer joy of racing. All of those things work together to help me push myself to the limit and find my inner speed.
Instead, this week I have had to try to find that speed all by my lonesome in a lane, on the dimly lit morning roads and in an hour from now, out on rte 26.
That said, it's going well.
I did a 3 mile run yesterday morning. I actually warmed up with a short bike ride and then another few miles of running. I was able to run 14 seconds faster than the 3 mi TT last month and my HR was the same. I ran it in 19:38 with an ave HR of 178.
My swim this a.m. was about 16 seconds faster than last time. I did the 1000 yards in 13:02. That gave me great satisfaction. I have been feeling stagnant in the water lately and wondering why. I know my weekly yardage is less than ideal but I still feel like I should see some gains. Today I did and it was satisfying.
Let's see what I can do on the bike. 12 mi TT. My other assessments have been Much different because they were on the trainer b/c of weather issues here in Maine. I will have hills, wind and all those other factors we deal with outside. I will try to be objective about that and not beat myself up if I'm not happy with my time.
I am really getting revved up about starting the season on 5/3. I really can't believe how soon that will be here. Between now and then I have school vacation with the kids and a trip to Washington,D.C. with my husband. I hope I can stay rested and fresh while there (of course, I'll be swimming and running too) and get ready to rock when I get home.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like things are improving! Way to go. It's nice to have test weeks because the numbers don't lie. I recently did one myself and was pleased.

Way to go!

GetBackJoJo said...

Awesome work on the solo TT's! It's hard to motivate to really kill yourself when you're by yourself, especially when you're still sleepy and it's 4:30 a.m.!
I can't believe I'm so proud of my just under 12 minute 800, when you can do 200 more in 13! You're such a swimming goddess. geez.
I can't wait to see you blow everyone else out of the water on May 3. What kind of a pool swim is it? Do you weave up and down lanes?

Marni Sumbal, MS, RD said...

wow-sub 20 and not even racing. That is amazing! You are doing to have a great season and once you IM comes (2009!) you are really going to appreciate your natural speed with the long distance training!

BreeWee said...

I am so with you... racing alone in a TT is way challenging compared to a real race... can you call on a friend to push you? Works for me! I always bring a faster-than-me friend along for my TT!

SUPER job with those gains in just a month! Your season is shaping up to be a fast one! Cheers to a GREAT bike TT!

Anonymous said...

Great training...I am still in awe of your speed in all three areas!!

BTW, I tagged you :)

AtlantaMom said...

Holy shit you're fast@!

Jennifer Cunnane said...

Great job ange - hopefully we can all meet up for a training week some time in the future.

Michelle said...

So how did the 12 mile TT? I love reading about your training. Fast. Fast. Fast.