Training Camp Day 6

It was a warm one today. We started off the day by biking roughly 10km from our condos over to a quiet neighbourhood for a brick session. I have mixed emotions about bricks. I love ones that consist of a super long bike ride followed by a longer run (ex. 2hr spin, 40min run). I also love longer, multiple interval bricks (ex. 2-3x 20-40min spin, 5-10min run). I’m not the biggest fan of super short, high intensity bricks, especially on extremely technical loops. I prefer the pain that comes from grinding it out on a long stretch on my TT over the pain of constantly accelerating and decelerating on turns. It is workouts like this that only solidify the fact that I want to move up to half ironmans within the next couple of years. I also much prefer having to grind out the bike solo over having to worry about being in a pack and working with other girls. I want to only have myself to rely on and worry about in a race. Any who back to today’s workout.

Brick:

2 x 1mi super technical bike loop + 1km run

2 x 1mi super technical bike loop + 500m run

For the first 2 intervals the kiddos were given a bit of head start - fine by me (no use practicing drafting when you aren’t allowed to in a race). I wanted to actually go my standard distance race pace and not blow myself up sprinting. The bike section was alright - I was a little hesitant going into some of the turns (I did not want to land on my hip again after yesterday’s crash). My first transition needs some attention - flying mounts were not happening. T2 was much better (minus the first one where I thought the dismount line was the first fire hydrant and not the second, loved running with my bike up the hill). My running felt strong - rather than worrying about pace I focused more on the feeling (thinking in an actual race how much would I want to exert myself in the first 10% of the run).

For the last 2 intervals I was instructed to pick up my pace to sprint distance speed. I increased the effort and felt stronger but still suffered on the turns. On the very last one I joined up with the draft group - not gonna lie I may have slightly enjoyed it. Maybe I’m not quite as ready for the ironman distance as I thought. For the run I just went for it (both times I held a sub 4min pace).

We cruised back to the condos on our bikes and went straight to lunch. We had some down time before our swim and spent the time enjoying the sun.

For the swim we walked over to the pool by our condos. It was pretty wavy so it resembled more of an open water feel, but was unfortunately kind of warm. We did more of an open water style workout.

400 easy

8x50 kick

16x25 mass start

2 x (2 x 1/2 circle, 1 circle, 3 circles)

400 pull

300 easy

Draft pack swimming brings out an ugly side in everyone. I was groped, smacked, and pulled under. On the bright side, I feel like I’m starting to improve in my ability to "fight" back and not give up my spot. There were definitely a couple intervals where I was bottle necked and pushed to the back but for a couple of them I was able to either hold on to someones feet or battle my way to the front. As soon as I get back to Calgary I plan on making a trip over to Harmony - there is nothing quite like swimming in a super cold lake solo as the sun rises.

Post swim we had a huge dinner, played some volleyball and chilled at the condo. Saturday is coming much to fast and I’m not ready to leave (especially now that it is super warm outside again).