Last Build Week

Besides the great race on Saturday we had a couple of other high points last week

Monday was labor day, so I did the double brick there instead of Tuesday.  Naturally, this also messed up the rest of the weekly schedule. I hit bike/swim Tuesday and that was ok. But then Wednesday has a bike and a tempo run.  This is the last week of heavy build phase training, so it's also the last bit of speedwork in the training plan.  I ended up running a 5k Wednesday night in 20:42, a 6:40 pace. Pretty strong.

The problem was that since Thursday was also Interval day, it got hairy.  I made the mistake of mentioning on facebook that I made the hard tempo run an had 4 x 1 mile intervals in the morning. Well, the real problem was that I didn't read any of the comments telling me how bad of idea that was. True, I like to put at least one day between hard runs, but this was the way that the schedule worked out so I just went with it when I really shouldn't have. Thursday morning I did 3.5 x 1 mile repeats at 6:22, stopping halfway through the last interval because of poop.  Sure, my lungs and leg muscles were screaming too. Those are really fast miles! But the foot felt fine, and that's what I was really trying to pay attention to.

Saturday had the race, and by the time we got back from white lake I was too worn out to do anything else. I thought we'd get back around 12 or 1 pm, not the 4 pm arrival time. So it was kind of hosed. I napped and watched football. Then Sunday I had a split run day to make things a bit more manageable.  I started with a 7 mile run before church that felt pretty good.  I was definitely fatigued from the race, but I got by.

At church, we voted in a new preacher! Finally our 3 year search for a new senior pastor has been concluded. This guy is incredible. He brings a charisma and ease to the pulpit that is exciting.

Then after a quick lunch, Bigun and I went out for an Indian Princess charity event.  We were filling bags of food for Stop Hunger Now who ships dried foods like rice to other countries. It was an assembly line process and we were on the bag sealing machines.

The coolest part about this was that Bigun really started to understand why charity work is important. She's really starting to mature into someone that I am so proud of, and it's really cool for me to get to see those gears start to turn like that. It feels good to help other people, doesn't it daddy?  yes, it does.

After we got back home I grabbed a short nap, then got out for a 10 mile ride and another 7 mile run. Tough workout, but that was a great way to finish off a long, hard week.

Thank goodness it's time for a recovery week. After this it's 2 weeks of peak training, then taper time. Ironman is only 6 weeks away!