This Week in Training – Base Phase Week 7…
Solid week. Amazingly, I feel great this afternoon. This was a full week—I made all my planned workouts. That felt good, but it also meant a big jump in training load, which is not the wisest thing. I’ll keep an eye on it.
Swim 🏊
- Workouts: 2
- Total Distance: 5,000 yards
- Total Time: 1 hour 31 minutes
This is where I technically “lose” time compared to the training plan. The plan calls for 2,500 yards in 60 minutes, and I usually knock it out in about 45. So it looks like I’m shorting the duration, but I’m not losing sleep over it.
Bike 🚴
- Workouts: 3 (including a brick)
- Total Distance: 61.7 miles
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
The long ride was two hours yesterday in the cold and rain. Somewhere along the lakefront, I discovered a 13.1-mile race was going on that I didn’t know about.
Then, at literally the farthest point of the out-and-back, my chain dropped and wedged itself hard into the front cassette. It took some work (and a fair amount of grease) to get it loose and back on.
Still, it was a good ride. I don’t mind training in bad weather. I have no idea what race-day conditions will look like, so: train for the weather.
Run 🏃
- Workouts: 4 (including one off the bike)
- Total Distance: 18.4 miles
- Total Time: 3 hours 1 minute
Yes, I’m absolutely counting that extra minute.
This was a huge jump in mileage—borderline How Not to Train-level jump—but it felt good while doing it. We’ll see how the body responds over the next few days.
Total Training Time 🧮
- Total Duration: 8 hours 17 minutes
TrainingPeaks Metrics 📈
- Fitness: 56 (up from 39)
- Fatigue: 128 (up from 64… gulp)
- Form: -54
So the numbers basically say:
- Fitness: Going hard
- Fatigue: Increasing fatigue (duh)
- Form: Overloading
I probably should have scaled things back a bit, but I felt good throughout the week.
Reflections ✍️
The tricky part next week is that the training load actually increases again. That’s going to be a challenge. I need to find a way to build in a dedicated rest day, but scheduling swims around pool availability makes that tough.
Monday is supposed to be the rest day, but it’s also a great day to swim. Of course it is.
And just to make things more interesting, the two weeks after next are both build weeks.
Sheesh.
Still… 23 weeks until race day. Plenty of time to keep building—hopefully a little more smoothly than this week.